website tracking
Search The Big Picture

« Spielberg-Smith 'Oldboy' Movie Not Happening | Main | Behind-the-Scenes: '2012' Laying Waste to Vegas »
Tuesday
10Nov2009

'Sgt. Rock' Won't Be Set in World War II

DateTuesday, November 10, 2009 at 7:26AM
No, this isn't what we need: Sgt. Rock is heading to the future. The Hollywood Reporter says the DC Comics series, in various stages of non-development for quite a while, is getting a fresh start with I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence.

At one point, Guy Ritchie was in talks for this one, but producers Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman have settled on Lawrence, who will be working from a script by newcomer Chad St. John. It's not immediately clear if a move to the future means just bringing Sarge out of World War II and into a contemporary environment or if this will actually be futuristic in some way. Regardless, it's the wrong approach.

The movie has gone through starts and stops for about two decades, though for the life of me, I can't figure out how hard this would be to turn into a film. And with the success in the past decade or so of Saving Private Ryan, Band of Brothers, and Inglourious Basterds, among others, I don't think WWII has run out of steam with audiences. Like everything else, it all depends on the story. It really couldn't be any simpler than that.

Conversely, Vietnam movies aren't always a sure thing, and movies about our current overseas conflicts have almost all been disapppointments at the box office. So if that's the direction Sgt. Rock goes, I really don't get it. If it's even further flung from the original setting, it makes even less sense.

When Ritchie was directing, he made it clear this was still a WWII picture, so perhaps his departure (his Sherlock Holmes is also a Joel Silver joint) is related to the direction the script appears to be headed.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

You might consider switching the image, since its the cover from a pirated (scanned) version of the comic. Its actually "original" work, as it was a cover made for an "easier to download" compact version of the comics, but its pirated material nonetheless.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterforkicks

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>