As we wait for that first Superman trailer and the premiere of Creature Commandos on December 5, James Gunn’s DC Studios is only ramping up its operations, and no one could’ve predicted this new live-action project in a million years: a Sgt. Rock flick directed by Luca Guadagnino and starring Daniel Craig.
After Nexus Point News first reported on this tentative project back in September, Deadline is adding that Daniel Craig is embarking on a new mission alongside the Challengers and Queer filmmaker; they collaborated on the latter, which will hit select US theaters on November 27.
According to Deadline, “this is poised to be Guadagnino’s next directing job before Lionsgate’s American Psycho reboot,” as it appears the Sgt. Rock screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, who penned Guadagnino’s two most recent movies, is almost ready to go. This would make Sgt. Rock the latest unexpected addition to Gunn’s first chapter of his rebooted on-screen DC continuity, which is going with both renowned character and more obscure, niche stories in its first stretch.
While no plot details are known at this point and Sgt. Rock has had quite a run over the decades, this would be a WW2-set action movie that could even feature pulpy horror elements, marking a huge departure for Guadagnino, who’s known for intimate dramas and tints of psychological horror. Sgt. Rock first appeared in Our Army at War #83 (June 1959), and was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert.
The character, a war hero and faithful soldier on the surface, is a surprisingly complicated one, with his relationship with both the country he serves and his enemies only growing weirder and more twisted with each mission. He’s also famously faced zombies, so maybe we should expect some Wolfenstein/Overlord vibes from this one. Ties to the larger DC universe, while possible, shouldn’t be expected at this point, as Gunn has stated in the past they’re very much interested in tackling standalone projects too, plus it’s logical to expect ample creative freedom for such an ‘out there’ director.
For 56-year-old veteran Daniel Craig, who’s enjoying his post-Bond era with all sorts of smaller, critically acclaimed projects such as Rian Johnson’s Knives Out movies, this would mean returning to the world of explosive blockbusters he seemingly wanted to leave behind, which signals he loved working with Guadagnino so much that he’s willing to get back into those trenches.