James Gunn, co-head of DC Studios and director of “Superman,” can’t shut his mouth; he loves to brag, and his latest blab revolves around a mysterious DCU project that was scrapped despite being well into pre-production, with a screenplay and a filmmaker already attached.
Speaking to NPR, Gunn admitted that while the project had reached its second and third draft stages, it simply wasn’t improving.
“We had a screenplay that—you know, a movie that was greenlit. We got second draft and third draft, and it just wasn’t changing. It wasn’t getting better. It was staying in the same place. And I said, ‘we can’t make this film. We can’t. It’s not good. We know it’s not good.’ Just because we have a good director attached and a good screenwriter, it doesn’t mean the script is working. Everyone is going to be upset at the end of this. It’s going to come out, the movie’s not going to be good. The director’s going to look bad, the screenwriter’s going to look bad, and we’re going to look bad. So I don’t want to have this. We’re not going to make the movie. And so we killed it.”
Many are assuming the scrapped film is Luca Guadagnino’s “Sgt. Rock,” the long-gestating WWII adventure that reportedly had Guadagnino on board to direct with Colin Farrell set to star. It was about to go into production this summer, and then Gunn suddenly pulled the plug on it. Despite trades claiming the film hasn’t been nixed, you don’t exactly come back from that. At least, not that iteration of the project, with Guadagnino and screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes attached.
Others claim it might be James Mangold’s “Swamp Thing,” but that project is still in the very early stages of development, and Mangold hasn’t even been working on it, instead fully concentrating his time on a ‘Star Wars’ movie.
Many wondered why Guadagnino’s “Sgt. Rock” ended up nixing its planned summer shoot. Some contradicting info soon emerged. Deadline and The Wrap claimed it was a scheduling issue. Meanwhile, Variety claimed it was “no longer in development,” and THR had a source telling them it might have had to do with Guadagnino’s lack of action blockbuster experience.
Back in June, Gunn had told EW that the overall vision of the project wasn’t up to his standards: “right now it wasn't exactly where I wanted it to be creatively, and so it needs to change a little bit.”
Guadagnino was already deep into pre-production when he was informed that “Sgt. Rock” was being shelved, a decision that almost certainly came from Gunn himself.
The film had been slated to begin shooting in July, with a strong cast attached, including Farrell, Jeremy Allen White, Mike Faist, and David Jonsson. Guadagnino had also assembled a trusted creative team: cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and costume designer Jonathan Anderson.
The film is set to shoot in fall 2027. The idea would be to release it in December 2028, timed to Trump's exit from office. Oh, and it's now Warner Bros.' indie label, Clockwork, that's backing the film.