Film writer CONSTANTINE reveals abandoned plans for the SWAMP THING film he was working on

The original writer of Keanu Reeves’2005 Constantine movie, Franco Cappellorevealed that there were plans for a Swamp thing film he was developing for Warner Bros. and DC after they pulled the plug on making it Constantine 2 after the film hit the box office.

Cappello recently took part in an AMA on r/Movies and shared the following information about the project that was ultimately shelved:

“After Constantine came out and didn’t work the way the studio wanted, they had to cancel my contract to write an official Constantine 2. They offered me two alternatives and one was Swamp Thing. Now, if you know the Constantine/Hellblazer world, Alan Moore wrote the original Swamp Thing and that was where I first saw John Constantine, so once I saw it I decided to write Swamp Thing.

The screenwriter then revealed what he intended to do with the Swamp thing movie, saying:

“I wrote it as a metaphysical horror film and I wanted to put Constantine in it, but I wasn’t allowed to for legal reasons. So I invented a character that had the same vibe as JC and called him Mr ‘E’. That was a Joel Silver production and it never got made. Probably because Mr Silver wanted a giant talking plant man like the cheesy TV series and my draft was based on the darker, cooler world Alan Moore had originally made. I wish I could leak that script so people could see how good that movie would have been.”

He should leak the script! I would read it! I’d be interested to see what his unique vision is for Swamp thing era. During the Q&A, Cappello also reflected on the negative reaction to casting an American actor in the role of John Constantine, saying:

“I was on the Hellblazer chat site in England while I was writing the first one and I heard all the complaints about Keanu being on it and disowning it before it even came out, so there was no way to convince them at that point. When it finally came out , they were divided. It wasn’t their JC, it was America’s and of course they rebelled, but many liked it for what it was – and the haters started their series with an English guy and fans of the film started screaming – where It’s Keanu!

“And the series failed. It’s like Batman fans hated Michael Keaton who was originally cast as Batman and yet they were screaming for him to return after Clooney and Val and it’s the only thing in the current The Flash that people don’t they hate: Keaton’s return as Batman.”

DC Studios is currently developing a Constantine sequel with Reeves returning to reprise his role. They are also developing a Swamp thing movie with James Mangold ready to write and direct! Both projects are pretty exciting! It seems like we still have a long way to go before these movies get made, but I’m excited to see how they turn out.