The filmmaker, now working on a proper sequel, shares stories behind his cult hit two decades later.
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Francis Lawrencenever intended to be a director of music videos.
Twenty years later, the fan base forConstantinekeeps growing.
Keanu Reeves as John Constantine in ‘Constantine’.Credit:Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Angela Dodson, a devout Catholic and dormant psychic investigating the apparent suicide of her twin sister.
Yet, a cult following formed around the adaptation.
And now, finally, Lawrence can develop the kind of sequel he always wanted to make.
Keanu Reeves and Francis Lawrence on the set of ‘Constantine’.Courtesy of Warner Bros.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I dug up an old making-of featurette from the DVD.
You discuss how Keanu made a “no music video directors” policy for this film.
Do you remember the specifics of your pitch that ended up changing his mind?
Keanu Reeves as John Constantine, Tilda Swinton as Gabriel in ‘Constantine’.Courtesy of Warner Bros.
It was about a nine-month process.
As this was happening, I was building out this big presentation.
I had illustrations, poster boards filled with images and references, actors, and all kinds of stuff.
Keanu Reeves on set of ‘Constantine’ with director Francis Lawrence.Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Keanu had been in Australia shooting theMatrixsequels, and he was going to be the last meeting.
Then the word came that he had told Erwin “no music video guys.”
But he luckily agreed to meet with me.
He landed back in L.A., had a couple days to acclimate.
[We] had another follow-up at the Chateau Marmont, another 4-5 hour meeting.
I think we connected on a personal level.
I think he really appreciated my vision for the movie.
One of the most fascinating casting choices was Tilda Swinton.
With time, that has only become more interesting as we talk culturally about gender.
In early interviews for the DVD release, Tilda would even describe Gabriel using he/him pronouns.
What do you remember of wrapping your head around the character of Gabriel and embracing androgyny?
Tilda was certainly the person that I wanted to play Gabriel.
It was seeing her inOrlando[1992].
She was on my original poster board.
You were experimenting with an alternate ending that was very similar to what the post-credits scene ended up being.
There was a little bit of a regime change of executives.
I think there were a bunch of people that didn’t have much faith in it as a movie.
I think they had faith in Keanu because he was starring in theMatrixsequels and thought maybe it was cool.
But I was an untested director.
They loved it, and it really turned them around.
We then showed them a cut of the movie.
There were some variations there.
We ended up just ending the movie on the roof and deciding that that was a post-credit deal.
Not many people had done those kinds of post-credit scenes.
A big part of the story ofConstantineis trying to get the PG-13 rating.
We didn’t get it.
It’s very detailed and very specific.
ShouldConstantinebe a PG-13 movie?
But you have a major studio trying to make a very commercial movie and spending $100 million.
They want a PG-13 because if it’s not, you’re leaving money on the table.
So sort of understandable, even though it’s a bit disingenuous for what the material is.
It’s hard R. No notes.
No changing our mind."
So he went to go argue it.
Therefore, this is an R. So there was, quite honestly, no fighting it.
That’s something you talked about embracing now in developing aConstantinesequel.
Where are you at with that?
I will say that the strikes had a little bit of an impact.
Let’s do the R-rated, scarier version of aConstantinesequel.
NBC did make a series.
We’ve always gotten held up because they go, “No,wehaveConstantine.
We want to do something withConstantine.
You guys can’t do yourConstantine.”
We just started cooking up some ideas.
Is the concept directly related to the first film?
It’s a little bit like when we do theseHunger Gamesmovies now.
Are you directingThe Hunger Games: Sunrise of the Reapingfirst?
Yeah, for sure.
There’s already a release date forSunrise of the Reaping.
I’m going to be shooting that this year.
During the 15th anniversary panel at Comic-Con, you mentioned discussing sequel ideas when you released the first film.
One concept was Constantine meeting Jesus.
I have to know more about that concept.
I don’t know how fleshed out [that was].
It’s so long ago.
I know we’ve batted a bunch of ideas around.
It’s all been good for the ideas.
Have you had conversations with anybody else for the sequel beyond Keanu?
No…Not until we land and confirm that it becomes a reality.
It’s as close as it’s ever been.
But until it’s real, we’re not talking to anybody else yet.
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