TAYLOR Sheridan, the screenwriting talent behind critically-acclaimed drug thriller Sicario, has explained why he felt compelled to write Emily Blunt’s character out of the forthcoming sequel.
British actress Blunt head the ensemble cast of the original as an FBI agent who must navigate a complex web of double bluffs to take down a Mexican drug cartel.
But while her co-stars Benicio Del Toro and Josh Brolin, who play a shady colleague and her morally unscrupulous boss respectively, are set to return, Blunt’s character will not.
And Sheridan has taken full responsibility, saying: “That was my decision, and at some point I’m going to have to talk to her about it.”
Speaking to The Wrap, he went on to explain exactly why he took the difficult decision not to include her character in Soldado, the keenly anticipated follow-up.
““Her arc was complete,” he said. “I couldn’t figure out a way to write a character that would do her talent justice. Look what she went through. It was a difficult role. Here, I write this lead character and then I use her as a surrogate for the audience.
“I make her completely passive against her own will so the audience feels the same impotence that a lot of law enforcement officers feel. I drag her through hell, and betray her in the end. It was an arduous journey for the character, and for Emily. That character had arc.”
“So, what do you do next? She moves to some little town and becomes a sheriff and then gets kidnapped and then we have Taken? I had to tell the story that was true to this role, and I didn’t feel like I could create something with that character that would further that world that would do Emily’s character justice. That said, there could be room for [her character] somewhere else down the road.”
Another person not returning to the world of Sicario is director Denis Villeneuve, who followed that film with the alien-language-deciphering drama Arrival and who is completing a sequel to Blade Runner, which is due next year.
Italian film-maker Stefano Sollima will replace him in the director’s chair.
Next story: Disney’s Moana lands one of best five-day openings of all-time in US