It’s bad enough when women aren’t even considered for roles that typically go to men, but when a film like “Sicario,” which was notable for having a female lead in an action-thriller, omits its own star from the sequel, you know something is messed up.
The 2015 drama starred Emily Blunt as an idealistic FBI agent who gets caught up in a potentially illegal sting operation orchestrated by characters played by Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro. Word of a sequel focusing on Del Toro’s character has been circulating for a while, but just yesterday it was finally announced that the second film, titled “Soldado,” is definitely happening, only with one caveat: Blunt, the actor who played the lead character in “Sicario,” would not be appearing in the sequel.
As recently as April, “Sicario” co-producer Thad Luckinbill confirmed to The Independent that the core cast would be returning. Now that doesn’t seem to be the case. Deadline’s initial report stated that Italian director Stefano Sollima (“Gommorah”) was in talks to direct, making his English language feature directorial debut.
It should be noted that, while the role was conceived and written for a woman, the writers and filmmakers behind “Sicario” were pressured by the studio to change the lead to a man. As The Guardian noted when the film premiered last year at Cannes, “‘The screenplay was written some years ago,’ [director Denis] Villeneuve said, ‘and people were afraid that the lead part was a female character, and I know several times [screenwriter Taylor Sheridan] had been asked to rewrite the role. When I got involved, the script was as it is, and I embraced it, as did [producers] Black Label and Thunder Road. But the pressure came before, and these guys had the guts to keep it as it was.’” So if they knew that what they were doing with “Sicario” was a progressive and inclusive move, why would they then turn around and eliminate her from following stories?
Eliminating female characters from the sequels of their own films is a problem that happens far too often. Earlier this year, “Snow White and the Huntsman” sequel “The Hunstman: Winter’s War” cut out Kristen Stewart in favor of focusing on Chris Hemsworth’s character. Next week, “Now You See Me 2” will open, though Isla Fisher is absent, seemingly replaced by Lizzy Caplan. Women are interchangeable in many male-led movies — just think of all of the women who rotate in and out of the “James Bond,” “Missions: Impossible,” “Transformers,” “Ted,” “Jump Street,” etc. films. But it would be inconceivable to imagine if, say, Mila Kunis had gone on to star in “Ted 2” instead of Mark Wahlberg.
We suppose it’s still possible that Blunt’s character, Agent Kate Mercer, could appear in the film in the form of another actress. Actors turn down projects all the time for undisclosed reasons, and there’s been no word if Blunt wasn’t interested or if Sheridan just isn’t including the character in the script. Either way, what was once a female-led story now notably isn’t.
Are women really all that forgettable or replaceable? It’s not for lack of interest or box-office clout. As Forbes points out, “Sicario” made $84 million worldwide on a $30 million budget. So what gives? If “Sicario” had starred a man in its lead role, it may have ended up another good but forgettable action-thriller. It was because Blunt was cast in the type of role that would usually have gone to a man that made it significant, and a more interesting story. But as of now, she’s fallen prey to a troubling trend that’s hit all to many sequels before.
