Constantine director Francis Lawrence says sequel is 'closer than ever'
'Constantine 2' is "closer than ever" after Francis Lawrence, Keanu Reeves and others finally cracked the story.
Francis Lawrence has insisted 'Constantine 2' is "closer than ever".
The 53-year-old filmmaker has opened up on plans to reunite with Keanu Reeves for a sequel to the 2005 superhero horror movie after years of the project being stuck in limbo.
He told Collider: "I will say we are closer than ever to being able to do a sequel, which is a great thing.
"And [producer Akiva Goldsman], Keanu and I are super, super excited about it."
The original film saw Reeves star as the titular supernatural exorcist and demonologist John Constantine.
There have been plans for a follow-up for years, but Lawrence has now confirmed he and his team have finally cracked the story.
He explained: "We have a great idea. We have gone through a bunch of the comics over the years and looked at things.
"I will say that there's probably grains from things that we're pulling, but in truth, most of it is just coming from the three of us, you know, loving the character, loving the world, having it sort of in the back of our minds for 20 years and just kind of percolating on ideas, and stories and characters we love, and ideas we love."
Late last year, the director revealed they were "now actively working on a script".
He told the same outlet in a separate interview: "So it’s really not that it’s just like, ‘Oh yeah, now we think the world is ready for it.’ I certainly think there is a bigger fan base and certainly it’s become a kind of cult classic, which has been really exciting to see and very strange, but it’s something we’ve always loved.
“We’re now in a spot where we are actively working on a script.”
Lawrence added the idea of a sequel had been floated for years, and it was only in 2020 that the ball started really rolling on the project.
He said: “The truth is, somewhere around the 15th anniversary or something, we did a Zoom and we all were discussing trying to get it up and going again. And again, we were just more active with it and finally got it past all these hurdle.”
The follow-up flick - which was announced by Warner Bros. In 2022 - will share its R-rating with its predecessor, and Lawrence stressed the second ‘Constantine’ would be more mature than the original picture.
He added: “We had been thinking about it. We had also been given an R-rating when we kind of made a PG-13 movie and followed all the PG-13 rules.
“So we’re like, ‘F*** it, let’s go and do a sequel and really make an R-rated movie. Give us an R, let us make a real R-rated movie.’”
And Lawrence previously admitted progress on the flick had been delayed due to the Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike.
Speaking to GameSpot, he said: "So ‘Constantine 2’ got obviously held up by the writers’ strike.
"Keanu and Akiva Goldsman and I have been in meetings and I have been hashing out what we think the story is going to be, and there’s more meetings of those that have to happen – the script has to be written – but [I’m] really hoping that we get to do ‘Constantine 2’, and make a real R-rated version of it."
