Luca Guadagnino‘s After the Hunt has finally hit theaters, and features a reference to a planned DCU film that has since been scrapped. Starring Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny, After the Hunt explores themes of cancel culture in a post-#MeToo era. What on the surface might have seemed like a potential awards contender appears to have been knocked out of the race following the film’s premiere at the 82nd Venice Film Festival. The reviews for the film were mixed to negative and a far cry from the reaction of Guadagnino’s previous two films from 2024, Challengers and Queer.
In a movie that focuses on people working or attending Yale’s philosophy department, DC Comics are not something one would expect to be referenced. Yet at one point in the movie, as Julia Roberts’ character walks out of a liquor store, she passes a comic book store that prominently features a poster for the DC World War II hero Sgt. Rock. Specifically, the cover of Sgt. Rock vs. Army of the Dead creates a continuity issue, as that comic was not published until 2022, while the events of After the Hunt take place in 2019. Continuity aside, the reference in After the Hunt is a bittersweet reminder of how close fans got to a Sgt. Rock movie by Luca Guadagnino. Here is why the acclaimed Italian director featured the comic and the details about a project that sadly was not meant to be.
Why on Earth Is ‘Sgt. Rock’ Referenced in ‘After the Hunt?’
The Sgt. Rock poster in After the Hunt follows a fun tradition of directors sneaking in a reference to an upcoming comic book movie. Years before he planned to direct Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan’s debut film, The Following, featured a Batman symbol in a scene. Chloé Zhao, who had already signed on to film Eternals for Marvel Studios, included a reference to the franchise in Nomadland. The Sgt. Rock reference in After the Hunt is interesting because it alludes to an upcoming film by Luca Guadagnino that has been canceled. It also marks the second time this has happened with Sgt. Rock, as producer Joel Silver featured the characters’ comics in 1987’s Predator, spending nearly a decade trying to get a feature-length version of the comic off the ground.
Luca Guadagnino’s involvement in a Sgt. Rock film was confirmed in November 2024. This was a shock, as the idea of Luca Guadagnino directing a DC Studios blockbuster felt like an out-of-left-field choice, but an exciting one at that. Filming of After the Hunt took place across six weeks, from July 6 to August 16, 2024. That means Guadagnino might have been in talks with James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios as far back as last summer. It is unclear if DC Studios approached him with Sgt. Rock, or if the director actually had the initial pitch. Sgt. Rock was clearly on Guadagnino’s mind, sneaking a reference to what was supposed to be his next movie in his current film.
Funny enough, next to the Sgt. Rock poster is one for Frank Miller’s Superman: Year One (one of the indicators that the events of the movie take place in 2019). The Superman: Year One poster is both a reference to James Gunn’s then-upcoming Superman, but is also crucial to After the Hunt, featuring artwork and images of controversial male figures, like a poster of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, music by Morrissey, or a close-up of Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.
For the early half of 2025, rumors circulated that Daniel Craig, Jeremy Allen White, and Colin Farrell were all being eyed for the lead role of Sgt. Rock. Academy Award-winner Mikey Madison was being considered for the role of Mademoiselle Marie, a fellow World War II-era DC character who, in early comics, had a daughter with Batman’s butler Alfred Pennyworth. Behind the scenes, Guadagnino had brought on many of his collaborators from Challengers and Queer, including screenwriter Justin Kuritzkes, cinematographer Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, and costume designer Jonathan Anderson. All signs appeared that Sgt. Rock was gearing up to film in the summer of 2025 and potentially could be released as soon as May 2026. However, on April 30, 2025, DC Studios pulled the plug on Sgt. Rock.
Why ‘Sgt. Rock’ Was Canceled
The exact reasons behind Sgt. Rock’s sudden cancellation, despite work moving along quickly, remain unclear. Deadline reported that Sgt. Rock was halted due to weather conditions because the production was rushing to meet a summer shoot date. Filming outside in the winter in the United Kingdom would not have worked. With the team seemingly rushing to meet a start date, it appears the script was not where DC co-president James Gunn wanted the movie to be, as he alluded to in an interview with NPR in July 2025. He didn’t name Sgt. Rock specifically, but he mentioned a “great director and screenwriter,” who sounds like Luca Guadagnino and Justin Kuritzkes, saying:
“I just stopped – you know, we had a screenplay that – you know, a movie that was greenlit. We went about. We got second draft and third draft, and it just wasn’t changing. It wasn’t getting better. It was staying in the same place. And I said, we can’t make this film. We can’t. It’s not good. We know it’s not good.”
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in June 2025, Gunn was asked to set the record straight on Sgt. Rock. Gunn said the movie wasn’t canceled, and they are moving forward, saying:
“I feel like we’re in a pretty good place. We’re still moving forward, but it’s not going to be…What would Peter [Safran; DC Studios co-head] want me to say here? … So it’s still moving forward, but, yeah, right now it wasn’t exactly where I wanted it to be creatively, and so it needs to change a little bit.”
In July 2025, it was confirmed that Sgt. Rock would be moving forward without Luca Guadagnino, who has since moved on to begin work on Artificial, a movie about OpenAI creator Sam Altman, as well as a remake of American Psycho. Deadline‘s initial report regarding Sgt. Rock said the movie could begin shooting in summer 2026, but no new director or star has been attached. Now, the Sgt. Rock poster in After the Hunt serves as a reminder of a brief moment when a DCU movie directed by the filmmaker of Call Me By Your Name and Challengers almost became a reality. After the Hunt is now playing in theaters.
- Release Date
-
October 10, 2025
- Director
-
Luca Guadagnino
- Writers
-
Nora Garrett