One of my favorite films of 2005 was CONSTANTINE (hate me if you choose). I thought the film had a great visual presence and seeing Rachel Weisz in anything makes the blood pump. Keanu wasn’t a bad portrayal of titular character John Constantine either. Being a fan of the movie before the graphic novel it’s based on, HELLBLAZER, I wouldn’t be opposed to a sequel. And apparently neither is director Francis Lawrence.
During a press junket for his latest film, I AM LEGEND, Francis Lawrence stated that he would much like to helm a CONSTANTINE sequel as long as the story worked. In an interview with Shock Till You Drop, Lawrence had this to say:
“I like origin stories, that would be cool. What worked for me is the film came from the ‘Dangerous Habits’ storyline – he had cancer and he was dying. To me that was the core of the story. It’s why the movie works for me, because the story couldn’t be more personal. People have thrown concepts around [for a sequel] and I go ‘Why does he give a f**k?’ In the first film he’s trying to save his own skin. Everything else, you can come up with these stories where he goes to different lands and fight the bad guys or witch doctors, but I think it all falls flat. Until someone comes up with a great idea, whether it’s earlier [in his life] or later, we’ll just have to see.”
They are just going to have to find someone really dedicated into bringing the personal essence of the first film into the sequel, or come up with something new entirely…but that would defeat the purpose of being based on a graphic novel.
If you’re unfamiliar with CONSTANTINE, which surprisingly many people I know are, the film was a man, John Constantine, born with the gift of seeing half breed angels and demons. After a failed suicide attempt to rid himself of what felt was his curse, Constantine becomes the defender of the space between heaven and hell in order to gain his acceptance back into heaven.
If you wanna check out the Shock Till You Drop article, click here.