Keanu Reeves Kept Pestering Warner Bros. About Constantine 2 Until They Said Yes
Keanu Reeves is passionate about many of his roles, but one that continues to delight fans is that of John Constantine, the demon-fighting exorcist from Francis Lawrence's 2005 movie "Constantine." Based on the Vertigo Comics character created by Alan Moore for "Swamp Thing" and later starring in his own comic series called "Hellblazer," Lawrence's movie was not all that accurate to the source material but hbecame something of a cult classic in its own right. A big part of what makes "Constantine" work is Reeves's dedicated performance and clear love for the character, and that love is apparently what got the upcoming sequel greenlit!
In an interview in the subscriber edition of Total Film magazine's February 2023 issue, Reeves revealed that he has been pestering the bigwigs at Warner Bros. for years to get a "Constantine" sequel made, and it seems that his persistence finally paid off. "Constantine 2" is still in the early stages, but it's happening, and we all have Keanu to thank for it.
'Please, sir, I want some more'
When asked if there was unfinished business with "Constantine" that made him chase the role once more, Reeves was honest about his enthusiasm and how he'd begged the folks at Warner Bros. to give it another shot:
"I don't know if it was unfinished business but it was definitely a role that I loved. And I thought that Francis Lawrence, the director, did such amazing work. I loved playing that character, and I really enjoyed the film. I was like, [adopts Oliver Twist voice] 'Can I please have some more?'"
Apparently this became almost an annual bit for Reeves and Warner Bros. "I kept asking almost every year," said the actor. "I'd be like, 'Can I please?' [and] they'd be like, 'No, no!'"
While the studio's reticence is sort of understandable given the mixed box office returns and poor critical reception for "Constantine," there is a passionate fanbase that wanted a sequel just as badly as Reeves. It's kind of rare that a star has the kind of pull to get a movie made like this, but Ryan Reynolds did it with "Deadpool" after the monstrosity that was "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," so why not try?
That trying paid off when Warner Bros. finally came around and decided to give Reeves and the rest of the "Constantine" team, including Lawrence, another chance to play in the weird world of John Constantine.
One more from everyone's favorite occultist
Like little Oliver Twist, Keanu kept asking until the good folks at Warner Bros. said "sure." Now, Reeves said that the team behind the sequel is "just starting to try and put a story together."
Reeves was so excited that he started mixing metaphors, but given the genre-mashing magic of Constantine himself, it kind of works:
"So it's exciting. It's almost like an open playground that we can hopefully cook something up and play in, and I guess get out of the playground and prepare a meal. But I'm looking forward to it, and hopefully it can happen. You don't know how these things go. But I'm definitely going to try my darndest to try and realise that dream."
It's thrilling to hear that Reeves is this enthusiastic about trying to get a "Constantine" sequel made, and he deserves to do whatever he wants in his career at this point. The man is a part of several major franchises and has left his mark on pop culture, so now I hope he gets to do the movies that make his heart sing. If the gods are good, we'll see Zatanna show up in "Constantine 2" and my heart will sing, too!