When asked if there was unfinished business with “Constantine” that made him chase the role once more, Reeves was honest about his enthusiasm and how he’d begged the folks at Warner Bros. to give it another shot:
“I don’t know if it was unfinished business but it was definitely a role that I loved. And I thought that Francis Lawrence, the director, did such amazing work. I loved playing that character, and I really enjoyed the film. I was like, [adopts Oliver Twist voice] ‘Can I please have some more?'”
Apparently this became almost an annual bit for Reeves and Warner Bros. “I kept asking almost every year,” said the actor. “I’d be like, ‘Can I please?’ [and] they’d be like, ‘No, no!'”
While the studio’s reticence is sort of understandable given the mixed box office returns and poor critical reception for “Constantine,” there is a passionate fanbase that wanted a sequel just as badly as Reeves. It’s kind of rare that a star has the kind of pull to get a movie made like this, but Ryan Reynolds did it with “Deadpool” after the monstrosity that was “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” so why not try?
That trying paid off when Warner Bros. finally came around and decided to give Reeves and the rest of the “Constantine” team, including Lawrence, another chance to play in the weird world of John Constantine.