Francis Lawrence Takes ‘Sgt. Rock’ to the Future

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 10, 2009

Borys Kit over at Heat Vision is reporting today that the long-gestating Sgt. Rock movie is being given to a new creative team by producer Joel Silver. Silver, who is producing through is company Silver Pictures, had originally set up Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie to work on the script and direct, but has since moved him to the DC Comics adaptation of Lobo.

Now, Silver is bringing in I Am Legend director Francis Lawrence to direct Sgt. Rock, with scribe Chad St. John on to work on the script. Up to this point, the Sgt. Rock project has retained the World War II setting of the original DC Comic, in which Sgt. Frank Rock is the leader of the infantry unit known as Easy Company. But now according to this new report, Silver and Co. are looking to move the project to a futuristic setting.

The success of Inglourious Basterds notwithstanding, period war movies that don’t take their subject seriously have not been in style for quite some time in Hollywood, making it tough for Sgt. Rock to get off the ground. Alas, this new time period and direction should help the movie acquire funding. No word yet on the difference in quality.

Would you prefer to see Sgt. Rock exist in his original time frame, or are you okay with him moving to the future?

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