With the cult superhero action/horror film Constatine getting a sequel, Keanu Reeves is all set to exorcise more demons with the reprisal of his role as the formidable John Constantine. However, while Constantine was made as per the rules of a PG-13 film, the director Francis Lawrence is planning on creating as well as releasing the sequel as an R-rated movie.
The award-winning filmmaker who was at the helm of the first film is going to be returning to shepherd the sequel as well and seems to have some definitive ideas with regard to the new movie as he plans on having it rated R.
Francis Lawrence says, Constantine 2 will be an R-rated film
Speaking with The Wrap about his upcoming fantasy/adventure named Slumberland on Netflix, Francis Lawrence was asked to shed some light on the progress of Constantine 2 when the Red Sparrow director revealed his plans to have the sequel released as an R-rated movie, that is if he is granted the liberty to run things his way.
Lawrence recalled how during the making of Constantine, they had been instructed to create a PG-13 film, only to receive an R-rating which ended up disrupting the true nature of the first part. But he is definitely not willing to repeat the same mistake with the sequel, claiming that he’s planning on making Constantine 2 an R-rated film right from the beginning itself.
“One of the biggest things for me about the first one was we followed, per Warner Bros., the rules to make a PG-13 movie in terms of violence, blood, language, sexuality. But the ratings board gave us a hard R based on their gray zone of intensity. And my big, big regret was that we have an R-rated movie that’s really a PG-13 movie. And if I was going to have to go have an R, I would have really made an R-rated movie. I would have made it much scarier and much more violent and I would have really made an R-rated movie.”
So, fans should most likely buckle up to witness more gore and violence in the upcoming superhero horror sequel.
All we know about Constantine 2 so far
With Lawrence set to direct the sequel, John Wick star Keanu Reeves is going to be taking over the role of the exorcist, and Akiva Goldsman is on board as the film’s screenwriter. Although the film’s crew doesn’t have a proper script per se yet, Lawrence claims that they have been brainstorming a multitude of ideas with regard to Constantine 2.
“We have germs of ideas and dedication. And Keanu and I have been batting around for a while and we’ve always wanted to do it. It’s just that we’ve finally gotten past the hurdle of now we can go ahead and, and really do it. Now we have to just roll up our sleeves and dive in. But we have lots of ideas.”
Considering that the film is still in the early stages of development, there hasn’t been any information about its potential release date either, but considering how motivated Lawrence and Reeves seem to be, fans might just get to see it on the big screen sometime soon in the foreseeable future.
Constantine is available to stream on HBO Max and Netflix.
Source: Twitter
