Luca Guadagnino‘s After the Hunt has lastly hit theaters, and includes a reference to a deliberate DCU movie that has since been scrapped. Starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny, After the Hunt explores themes of cancel tradition in a post-#MeToo period. What on the floor may need appeared like a possible awards contender seems to have been knocked out of the race following the movie’s premiere on the 82nd Venice Movie Competition. The critiques for the movie had been combined to damaging and a far cry from the response of Guadagnino’s earlier two movies from 2024, Challengers and Queer.
In a film that focuses on folks working or attending Yale’s philosophy division, DC Comics should not one thing one would count on to be referenced. But at one level within the film, as Julia Roberts’ character walks out of a liquor retailer, she passes a comic book guide retailer that prominently includes a poster for the DC World Battle II hero Sgt. Rock. Particularly, the duvet of Sgt. Rock vs. Military of the Useless creates a continuity situation, as that comedian was not revealed till 2022, whereas the occasions of After the Hunt happen in 2019. Continuity apart, the reference in After the Hunt is a bittersweet reminder of how shut followers received to a Sgt. Rock film by Luca Guadagnino. Right here is why the acclaimed Italian director featured the comedian and the main points a few mission that sadly was not meant to be.
Why on Earth Is ‘Sgt. Rock’ Referenced in ‘After the Hunt?’
The Sgt. Rock poster in After the Hunt follows a enjoyable custom of administrators sneaking in a reference to an upcoming comedian guide film. Years earlier than he deliberate to direct Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan’s debut movie, The Following, featured a Batman image in a scene. Chloé Zhao, who had already signed on to movie Eternals for Marvel Studios, included a reference to the franchise in Nomadland. The Sgt. Rock reference in After the Hunt is attention-grabbing as a result of it alludes to an upcoming movie by Luca Guadagnino that has been canceled. It additionally marks the second time this has occurred with Sgt. Rock, as producer Joel Silver featured the characters’ comics in 1987’s Predator, spending practically a decade attempting to get a feature-length model of the comedian off the bottom.
Luca Guadagnino’s involvement in a Sgt. Rock movie was confirmed in November 2024. This was a shock, as the thought of Luca Guadagnino directing a DC Studios blockbuster felt like an out-of-left-field alternative, however an thrilling one at that. Filming of After the Hunt befell throughout six weeks, from July 6 to August 16, 2024. Meaning Guadagnino may need been in talks with James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios way back to final summer time. It’s unclear if DC Studios approached him with Sgt. Rock, or if the director really had the preliminary pitch. Sgt. Rock was clearly on Guadagnino’s thoughts, sneaking a reference to what was presupposed to be his subsequent film in his present movie.
Humorous sufficient, subsequent to the Sgt. Rock poster is one for Frank Miller’s Superman: Yr One (one of many indicators that the occasions of the film happen in 2019). The Superman: Yr One poster is each a reference to James Gunn’s then-upcoming Superman, however can be essential to After the Hunt, that includes art work and pictures of controversial male figures, like a poster of Clint Eastwood’s Soiled Harry, music by Morrissey, or a close-up of Andrew Jackson on the $20 invoice.
For the early half of 2025, rumors circulated that Daniel Craig, Jeremy Allen White, and Colin Farrell had been all being eyed for the lead position of Sgt. Rock. Academy Award-winner Mikey Madison was being thought-about for the position of Mademoiselle Marie, a fellow World Battle II-era DC character who, in early comics, had a daughter with Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth. Behind the scenes, Guadagnino had introduced on a lot of his collaborators from Challengers and Queer, together with screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and costume designer Jonathan Anderson. All indicators appeared that Sgt. Rock was gearing as much as movie in the summertime of 2025 and probably might be launched as quickly as Might 2026. Nonetheless, on April 30, 2025, DC Studios pulled the plug on Sgt. Rock.
Why ‘Sgt. Rock’ Was Canceled
The precise causes behind Sgt. Rock’s sudden cancellation, regardless of work transferring alongside rapidly, stay unclear. Deadline reported that Sgt. Rock was halted on account of climate circumstances as a result of the manufacturing was dashing to satisfy a summer time shoot date. Filming outdoors within the winter in the UK wouldn’t have labored. With the workforce seemingly dashing to satisfy a begin date, it seems the script was not the place DC co-president James Gunn wished the film to be, as he alluded to in an interview with NPR in July 2025. He did not title Sgt. Rock particularly, however he talked about a “nice director and screenwriter,” who seems like Luca Guadagnino and Justin Kuritzkes, saying:
“I simply stopped – you already know, we had a screenplay that – you already know, a film that was greenlit. We went about. We received second draft and third draft, and it simply wasn’t altering. It wasn’t getting higher. It was staying in the identical place. And I mentioned, we are able to’t make this movie. We are able to’t. It’s not good. We all know it’s not good.”
In an interview with Leisure Weekly in June 2025, Gunn was requested to set the file straight on Sgt. Rock. Gunn mentioned the film wasn’t canceled, and they’re transferring ahead, saying:
“I really feel like we’re in a fairly good place. We’re nonetheless transferring ahead, nevertheless it’s not going to be…What would Peter [Safran; DC Studios co-head] need me to say right here? … So it is nonetheless transferring ahead, however, yeah, proper now it wasn’t precisely the place I wished it to be creatively, and so it wants to vary a little bit bit.”
In July 2025, it was confirmed that Sgt. Rock could be transferring ahead with out Luca Guadagnino, who has since moved on to start work on Synthetic, a film about OpenAI creator Sam Altman, in addition to a remake of American Psycho. Deadline‘s preliminary report relating to Sgt. Rock mentioned the film might start taking pictures in summer time 2026, however no new director or star has been hooked up. Now, the Sgt. Rock poster in After the Hunt serves as a reminder of a short second when a DCU film directed by the filmmaker of Name Me By Your Identify and Challengers nearly grew to become a actuality. After the Hunt is now taking part in in theaters.
- Launch Date
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October 10, 2025
- Director
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Luca Guadagnino
- Writers
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Nora Garrett
