'Sicario' Sequel Director Reveals Plans to Make a Third Film
Josh Brolin (front) and Benicio del Toro (rear seat, at right) in ‘Sicario’ (Lionsgate)
For those who couldn’t get enough of the Mexican drug cartel-related action delivered by last year’s Sicario, there’s good news — according to the project’s new director, you’ll be getting two more films in its universe.
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In a recent chat with Jacob Stolworthy at The Independent, filmmaker Stefano Sollima (best known for his Italian crime drama TV series Gomorrah, based on the acclaimed 2008 film of the same name) reveals plans to follow up Denis Villeneuve’s 2015 thriller with both his upcoming Soldado as well as a third film. Moreover, neither will focus on Emily Blunt’s government agent protagonist (who may appear in the third movie, albeit in a peripheral role), but rather will revolve around Benicio Del Toro’s hitman Alejandro Gillick and Josh Brolin’s CIA chief Matt Graves.
As Sollima sees it, each of the three movies ultimately will share some characters, but otherwise stand on its own. Of Soldado he says:
“It’s absolutely a standalone movie — a completely different story with just two of the characters that you met in Sicario. It’s not a real sequel. The antagonists are now absolutely the main characters.“
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Sollima’s idea of what constitutes a sequel (and “antagonists”) seems a bit fuzzy — and further comments about his approach to the film (written by Sicario screenwriter Taylor Sheridan) contain praise, as well as a not-so-subtle dig, regarding the first film, which was acclaimed for its gorgeous Roger Deakins-shot widescreen style:
"I loved Sicario. I feel the movie was quite similar to my approach so, to me, I’m just shooting another movie. Soldado will be much more cinematic than Sicario was; it’s got an incredible amount of huge action sequences in there. It will be a different journey in the same world. Even the theme is different — it’s not drug dealing, it’s more on immigration."
Whether that new thematic angle will prove fruitful won’t be known until Soldado arrives in theaters some time in the unspecified near future. For now, you can click over to read all of Sollima’s interview here.
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