14 DAY TRIAL // Even though odds were against it happening, a sequel to “Wanted,” which originally starred Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy, is finally being made. The scribes who penned the first film are now on board the sequel, it has emerged.
As we also noted on previous occasions, there’s been a lot of speculation these past couple of years on whether Jolie would reprise the part or, for that matter, if a follow-up movie would ever be made.
As it turns out, the latter is definitely happening, AceShowbiz writes. The movie studio has turned to the original screenwriters to pen the script for the sequel.
“Universal Pictures moves forward with the sequel of action film ‘Wanted’ (2008), which stars Angelina Jolie. The studio has rehired the original screenwriter duo, Michael Brandt and Derek Haas, to pen the script for the upcoming project,” the e-zine says.
Haas himself has confirmed the news to fans on his Twitter page, while also issuing a statement to The Wrap about the work he’s supposed to do on the new film.
“We just always loved the ‘Wanted’ world and loved working with Universal and (director) Timur (Bekmambetov) on the first one, so we’re excited,” Haas is quoted as saying.
Bekmambetov, sadly, will not join the team for the sequel because, as Haas puts it, he’s a “very busy guy,” so Universal is in the market for a new director.
As for chances that Jolie will reprise her role in the sequel, the actress made it clear a while back that they’re close to zero.
In a statement cited by AceShowbiz, the actress said that, while the idea of having her character brought back to life for another adventure seemed interesting at first, she soon realized that she wanted something more from a film than that.
“Being dead makes it difficult. They were [trying to bring me back], but I kind of feel like if I die in a movie, I should die actually... It would just be doing the exact same thing in another movie, so it’s not that interesting to me,” she said.
McAvoy might return, since Haas said the sequel would pick up the story a few years after the ending in the first film. So far, no word from the actor about that.