‘Soldado’ could be a prequel to ‘Sicario’ but is a ‘bigger movie’ ‘deeper’ in the characters
As the production on Soldado is set to wrap soon, another nugget of information on the plot has landed. During a Collider interview, producer Basil Iwanyk promoted John Wick: Chapter 2 and revealed a few hints on the Sicario follow-up.
“The script was amazing. Truly, I think you could argue that it was better than the first script,” Iwanyk said.
“It’s a bigger movie; it is just as intense, just as disturbing, just as emotional. You’re going deeper into both Josh Brolin’s character and Benicio’s character, and I think people are going to be shocked by how relevant the movie is in this current environment, with our new president and what’s going on politically in that world.”
Collider notes the remarks which confirm the feel of the first film: “The aesthetic of that movie, our director Stefano Sollima is able to kind of extend that aesthetic and augment it. So if you love the first movie, I truly believe you’re going to love this movie if not more. There’s more bells and whistles and we go deeper with the characters, especially with Benicio’s character.”
Sicario scribe Taylor Sheridan returned to write this script, but couldn’t find an organic way to Emily Blunt’s character on into the follow-up.
“I have to stress that we love Emily personally and professionally. She’s amazing. She did incredible in the movie, but I think Taylor realized there was nowhere for her to go. Taylor didn’t know where to bring her in the second movie, so he decided it would feel less contrived, less sequel-y, if she wasn’t in the second movie and it was just dealing with Benicio and Josh’s characters. And also again, not really having a relationship to the first movie. It’s more of like another chapter in some ways.”
Iwanyk says Soldado is all about Taylor Sheridan’s script.
“I have to say it’s all about Taylor’s script. You had people really skeptical at the studio, myself, the actors, everybody. And Taylor wrote a script and everyone was just like ‘Holy shit, this is great.’ It was all Taylor.”
Ian Bohen will play Carson Wright, a former Marine sniper and an employee of Halliburton, who has an explosive encounter with Matt’s (Brolin) crew. Matthew Modine recently joining and portrays Secretary of Defense Director James Ridley opposite Catherine Keener, who plays his Deputy Director.
Isabela Moner (Transformers: The Last Knight) stars with Jeffrey Donovan, returning as Steve Forsing from Sicario, Jackamoe Buzzell (Hell or High Water, A Million Ways to Die in the West), David Castaneda (End of Watch) and Chris Adams from The Originals.
Elijah Rodriguez has been cast as a “Mexican-American teenager who is caught up between becoming a sicario in the dangerous world of the drug cartels and his desire to do what is right and not lose his humanity,” according to Deadline when the casting was announced.
The film currently does not yet have a release date.
Benicio del Toro in “Sicario”
