Ethan Hawke wanted the sequel to his Daybreakers to follow the footsteps of Mel Gibson’s Mad Max 2. The Academy Award-nominated actor pitched the idea of a potential sequel to his 2010 sci-fi horror flick. Even though the sequel was never made, Hawke wanted Daybreakers 2 to follow the path taken by The Road Warrior.
Mad Max has been one of the most successful and renowned franchises that was started by George Miller. It had a great contribution to Mel Gibson’s career until he was replaced by Tom Hardy in Fury Road. The second installment titled The Road Warrior is still hailed as one of the best sequels of all time and Ethan Hawke wanted to replicate the same success in Daybreakers 2.
What did Ethan Hawke say about Daybreakers 2?
Daybreakers starred Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe in the lead and showed a futuristic dystopian world that is run by vampires. The film delivered a decent box office performance and garnered mixed reception from all around. But as soon as the Spierig Brothers directorial was released, Hawke had some ideas ready for a potential sequel.
Speaking to Gizmodo, when the Moon Knight actor was asked if he was interested in making a Book of Eli-esque type dystopia movie, Hawke replied that he wanted the sequel to be similar to Mel Gibson‘s Mad Max 2.
“Yeah! If imagine sometimes that Daybreakers could be Mad Max and the sequel to it could be Road Warrior. You know how different Mad Max was to Road Warrior, maybe Road Warrior is such a great sequel because it was completely different. But I’m really interested to see what it’s like in Nebraska with the subsiders. It could get really wild.”
The director duo also claimed that there were many ideas in their minds to work on if the first installment worked, However, looks like the collection of $51.4 million didn’t let their plans unfold as we never heard anything more about a sequel or a prequel of Daybreakers.
Horror movies are like geometry problems to Ethan Hawke
Besides Daybreakers, Ethan Hawke has also been a part of some other horror flicks like Sinister and The Black Phone. According to the actor, making a horror movie is similar to solving a geometry problem. During an interview with /Film after the release of The Black Phone, Hawke explained how it is like math.
“Making a good horror film is a lot like solving a geometry problem. There’s a math to a building. It has to be simple enough, complicated enough. People write books about [Alfred] Hitchcock and the timing and the way the cuts work. There’s just a math to it.”
Ethan Hawke went on to praise Scott Derrickson and claimed that he liked The Black Phone‘s script even more than Sinister. The film also received immense praise from the audience and critics and is also set to receive a sequel which will be released next year.
Daybreakers can be streamed on Hulu.
