Following reports that DC movie Constantine 2 is finally in development, director Francis Lawrence has commented on the status of the project. Yes, the “right people” are now involved, but as of now they still don’t know what the story’s going to be in the horror movie.
“We don’t have a script, but Keanu, me, and Akiva [Goldsman] who all worked on the first one together have all been trying over the years to get another one going,” Lawrence told ComicBook.com. “It’s been tricky because of the DC/Vertigo world and who owns the character and who has control over the characters, trying to get the right people to go forward. We’ve got that now, and now we need the story. We’d all love to do it.”
This is good news, but also somewhat mixed, because many a great action movie has died on the vine waiting for the perfect story and script. Still, at least we have Reeves in front of the camera, and Lawrence behind, which is more than was there before.
Constantine is one of the more distinctive fantasy movies based on a DC property, centering on the chain-smoking paranormal detective from the Hellblazer comics. Rachel Weissz, Tilda Swinton, and Peter Stormare join Reeves in the cast, making it a real powerhouse of character actors. It did reasonably well in 2005, but has since adopted somewhat of a cult status.
Talk of a sequel has come up intermittently since 2005, though nothing solid ever came of it. Reeves and Gordon were always keen, but it seemed like Constantine might become park of a nascent Justice League Dark film, then everything stalled again. In recent years, Reeves had been talking about it more, and now they’ve finally managed to get the band together.
We’ll keep you informed. Have a look at our guide to the 2023 movies we can’t wait to see what else you should be excited about.