The Amateur director has revealed where exactly he'd love to take Rami Malek's Heller on his next international adventure if a sequel were to happen. While another movie is not confirmed, the ending of the first film does leave the door open for Heller's story to continue in some form.
The Direct was invited by Disney and 20th Century Studios on a trip to Washington, DC, to visit the International Spy Museum, where we got to explore the history of spies alongside The Amateur director James Hawes. Shortly after, The Direct's Russ Milheim was given the opportunity to interview the filmmaker in a paired interview setting.
Of course, we had to take the opportunity to ask about a potential sequel, or, more specifically, what international location Hawes would love to visit next if The Amateur 2 becomes a reality. Some of the international locations from the first film include Istanbul, Madrid, Romania, Paris, and more.
Hawes listed "South Asia," "Vietnam," "Cambodia," and "Namibia" as exciting choices to explore:
James Hawes: Okay, well, first of all, I went to Istanbul in this one, which wasn't in the book or the script originally, because it felt contemporary and it felt edgy and dangerous. So my brain would be going, Okay, where can I go that feels contemporary and relevant, and also were sexy and visual. So I'm thinking Southeast Asia. I haven't been to Vietnam, Cambodia, I can see some stuff to do there. The other place, which is incredibly visual, but I can't think of the story, is Namibia. So anybody's got a movie they'd like to pitch?
Another journalist jumped in to ask Hawes if there had been any conversations about a sequel, where the director confirmed that there have been "almost none."
Though he did open up about one "little secret," which is that "the scene with Henderson in the parking lot near the end was not in the original script"—a moment that could easily set up a potential sequel:
Hawes: Almost none, honestly... Let me give you one little, little secret here. The scene with Henderson in the parking lot near the end was not in the original script. That was additional photography, and part of that was because we found ourselves enjoying the relationship between those two so much and the way it develops... You don't know if this guy's gonna give him a hug or shoot his kneecaps, and that became so much fun that we wanted him back for some sort of sign off. So, obviously, he says doing a show and tell here, there is the possibility, and that was left lingering, but has not been discussed.
The Direct then asked if, through maintaining authenticity for The Amateur, there was ever anything they had to change or remove from the film because it was too close to reality. Hawes confirmed that there was, but he couldn't say much about it.
However, the first did go into depth about some of the stuff in the film that can absolutely happen in the real world:
Hawes: Well, let me tell you about two things. Obviously, we were talking about the video mapping and the digital chat, we called it, when Heller sends out these other things, they said, Oh yeah, we do that. We absolutely do. You can spoof systems. You can spoof planes into thinking that they've had missiles launched at them. They don't know what's coming their way. We can take remote control of boats.
A lot of what really inspired us was their ability to improvise. So these operatives will be put into some sort of hostile territory, and their ability to make a lethal weapon out of stuff found on street corners and marine parks is terrifying...
What Could The Amateur 2 Look Like?
Given that Rami Malek's Heller is safe and still works for the Agency at the end of The Amateur, it feels like James Hawes has free rein to do whatever he wants if the story continues. Further exploring the fun dynamic between Lawrence Fishburne's Henderson and Malek's Heller could make for a really interesting adventure.
Another fun relationship that The Amateur could explore is that between Heller and Jon Bernthal's (who is going to have his own The Punisher MCU special next year) The Bear.
Additionally, there are always those fan theories that Rachel Brosnahan's Sarah isn't really dead. While the original movie never explored that idea, it's an easy direction to take.
All of the locations that director James Hawes would love to explore (South Asia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Namibia) would make for stellar locations—so it's hard to go wrong with any one of them.
While the chances of a sequel remain uncertain, the original movie did perform decently at the box office, making $96 million at the worldwide box office. This total clears the estimated budget of $60 million (not accounting for marketing), so The Amateur 2 is at least still a possibility.
The Amateur is now available to purchase and rent on VOD platforms.
