Few directors out there are busier than Luca Guadagnino. The Italian filmmaker always has a new project in the chamber, and after the one-two punch of Challengers and Queer, there’s no shortage of curiosity about his next film.
Guadagnino generated plenty of buzz by signing on to a new adaptation of American Psycho in October — but before tackling the remake, the director may be taking a brief detour to the DC Universe. Deadline reports that Guadagnino is in talks to helm Sgt. Rock, a superhero film that’s been gaining notoriety in recent months. If the rumors are true, he might even bring Daniel Craig into the DC fold, fresh off their collaboration in Queer.
Sgt. Rock is not a name that’s familiar to casual comic book fans, which may explain the appeal to a director like Guadagnino. His role in DC Universe is relatively low-key: though he led his own solo comic series in the ‘70s, he’s not a traditional superhero. Sgt. Franklin Rock served as an infantry soldier during World War II, leading a unit called Easy Company. His path notably crossed with DC heavy-hitters like Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor, but his most significant contribution to the universe is easily his tenure with Task Force X.
Rock was an early commander of the group that would later be known as the Suicide Squad, so his film could tie directly to one of DC’s more popular storylines — it might even serve as a soft reboot for the Suicide Squad films within the old DC Universe. How Guadagnino would tackle this story is anyone’s guess, but we may not have to wait long to find out.
This wouldn’t be the first time that a filmmaker so synonymous with the arthouse movement expressed interest in helming a major blockbuster: Marvel has steadily pulled collaborators from the indie scene, often to great success. James Gunn and Peter Safran, the new creative heads of DC Studios, could be taking a page from Marvel’s playbook by recruiting Guadagnino. Still, the idea of the director pivoting to another project so quickly comes as a surprise — especially given his other potential films in the pipeline.
No one was really holding their breath to see Guadagnino’s take on American Psycho, but it’s a little worrying to see the director embracing better-known IP. As Gunn and Safran’s DCU is still relatively young, there’s no telling how someone like Guadagnino would fit in: maybe this is the start of an eclectic new universe, or maybe Guadagnino will move on to a different project. Time will tell, but there’s no doubt that fans will be watching the DCU even closer now.
