Director Gareth Evans has several surprising sources of inspiration for his planned solo Deathstroke film.
While promoting his Netflix original film Apostle, Evans revealed that his take on the DCEU project would be influenced by Korean neo-noir films including Park Chan-Wook’s universally acclaimed 2003 film Oldboy and Kim Jee-Won’s 2011 thriller I Saw the Devil.
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“I was interested in following a sort of Korean new wave of noir films as a sort of influence and touchstone for the kind of style and tone the film could take,” explained Evans in an interview with Inverse. “We were really interested in origin stories that could be told.”
A Deathstroke solo film was reportedly greenlit by Warner Bros. following the character’s appearance in the post-credits scene for last year’s Justice League with Joe Manganiello expected to reprise his role as the villainous DC Comics mercenary. Evans has since clarified that while he has spoke to the studio about the project, he is not officially signed on to helm it.
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“It’s been a good, good, good while since I’ve had any conversations about that project. I don’t know what’s gonna happen, or when, with me or without me,” Evans reiterated. “I had a follow-up call with Joe Manganiello, who is the most dedicated and passionate person you could hope for to play Deathstroke. But in terms of my involvement, it never went further than that. I haven’t heard anything since.”