‘The Raid’ Director Teases What His Approach to a Deathstroke Movie Would Have Been

The Raid director Gareth Evans likely isn’t taking on a solo Deathstroke movie, as he only briefly discussed the possibility with Warner Bros. regarding the project. Despite those talks fizzling out, the filmmaker had begun to contemplate an approach he would take with the potential film.

“The approach would’ve been interesting to kind of take on [the character’s origins],” Evans shared with ComicBook.com. “I wasn’t interested in doing the bloated version of that film. I wouldn’t have wanted it to be like a two-hour-plus version of a comic book movie. I think that there was a leaner, more aggressive version of that story. Something that felt a lot more in tune with Korean War films. That would’ve been my preferred angle on something like that. But who knows, it might get picked up again at some point, and I might get another phone call at some point down the line. But, it’s eluded me.”

Evans work on The Raid films have led to some of the best martial arts films of the decade, making him an obvious choice when it comes to creating a film featuring copious amounts of hand-to-hand combat. Fans of the filmmaker might have been clamoring to see Evans’ take on the character, the director admitted his heart wasn’t fully invested in the project.

“To be honest, I’m focused on the things that I feel passionate about making,” Evans noted. “I have an internal barometer for the projects I picked to make next. And so far, they’ve all been things that I’ve been able to create and have been thankful for the freedom and flexibility of being able to work in Indonesia, first and foremost. But now, also to be able to find partners in the guys at XYZ Films, the guys at Netflix, who have been very supportive in terms of the vision of what I’ve been wanting to put out there.”

The filmmaker’s comments imply that his ideas for the film were far from coming to fruition, but, given his previous efforts, would have delivered audiences an ambitious and uncompromising vision of the character. As far as the DCEU is concerned, both Suicide Squad and Justice League have notably had intervention from the studio about what they wanted to release versus what the filmmakers wanted to make, ultimately leading towards underwhelming releases.

In that regard, even were Evans to have “directed” a Deathstroke film, it might not have ever been what he truly envisioned for the character. Regardless, we shouldn’t be expecting a Deathstroke film from Evans, or any other director, anytime soon.

Evans’ latest film, Apostle, hits Netflix on October 12th.

Would you have liked to have seen Evans’ proposed Deathstroke film? Let us know in the comments below!