Huffington Post recently had a chance to interview G. I. Joe: Retaliation Script Writers; Paul Wernick And Rhett Reese. They had many things to say, including their plans for G. I. Joe 3.
The director, Jon Chu, grew up with G.I. Joe as well, and it seems like this is the right team to be putting together a G.I. Joe movie. Why do you think they didn’t do that the first time?Wernick: Well, you know, it’s funny. I think there were just a host of problems on that first one, just in terms of, I think, it was up against the writers’ strike. And there was just a scramble to get it made. You know, Hasbro was pushing, and there were issues with toys and so forth. Like, there was a roll-out campaign. There was a whole complex issue of movie making and such that outside factors, and assassins kind of just — you know, it’s not for us to judge the first one. There were elements of the first one that we thought were great, that gave us the great gift of launching off into the second one with the bad president, which we thought was a great launching point into “G.I. Joe 2.”
The rest of the interview contains spoilers, if you haven’t already watched G. I. Joe: Retaliation. To read the rest, take a look after the jump. What characters did you guys really want to use that you couldn’t?
Reese: Well, the first on the list that we really struggled to let go is the Baroness. We had a bit of a glut of villains and we really wanted to introduce Firefly, because we wanted to introduce a character who just loves destruction and is a great foil for Roadblock. So once we introduced him, and we already had Storm Shadow and Cobra Commander and it just — we were worried about a glut of villains. So we had to let the Baroness go, and that was painful, because she’s a really wonderful character. But we would always, if given the chance, relish the opportunity to bring her back in a sequel, because we love her.
And Jon Chu was saying that there have been ideas thrown around of how to recreate her in a different way.Reese: Yeah, I mean, one of the things is that Duke [played by Channing Tatum] is dead, so we don’t really have to service that Duke/Baroness relationship that they established in the first movie. We can just let that go and that provides us with the freedom either to ignore what happened in the first movie, because it was two movies ago, or create something entirely new. I think people will probably embrace that, it being two movies previous. People are much easier to accept and be fast and loose with reboots and sequels now than they used to be.
I think most people know that Channing Tatum is only in the beginning of the movie. How did his contract work? Were you told he had to be written out?Wernick: Well, when we first pitched the idea when we were auditioning for the job — in our first draft of the script, actually — Duke was the protagonist through the entire first draft. Ultimately, I think schedule and desire and the excitement to turn over a franchise to a new set of actors excited Channing and excited the studio. When we first pitched Channing the idea that he was going to die, he got really, really excited. It’s so rare that a big, huge huge star ever dies on screen, so the idea that he would have a death scene put a glint in his eye and a smile on his face. And then it really did give the Joes, we thought, a real motivation, a revenge plot. It’s like, “Let’s rally up and go after whoever did this.” So it really did provide us the perfect motivation going into the second movie.
The writers also talked about the upcoming Deadpool movie. You can read all about it at The Huffington Post.
SilverOptimus says
News Post: Interview With G. I. Joe: Retaliation Script Writers Paul Wernick And Rhett Reese
Shin Densetsu says
Welp, that proves Channing really did want Duke to die then. For what it's worth I thought he did alright in both movies.
I think Duke's death in the movies can motivate Baroness to just let loose and go bad all the way. Nothing to lose. Have her own motivations for wanting power. Kind of like how she was in the early Marvel issues.
Scarface says
"...a glut of villains"
Sorry but that is almost laughable. Cobra Commander was barely in it.
Guys, a glut of villains is exactly what you should be aiming for. This is not some one shot monthly issue, its a G.I.JOE movie.
Shin Densetsu says
Sorry but that is almost laughable. Cobra Commander was barely in it.
Guys, a glut of villains is exactly what you should be aiming for. This is not some one shot monthly issue, its a G.I.JOE movie.
TheLongestDay says
NoOOooOoooOOoooo they confirmed Duke is dead for realz!!! I thought he coulda survived that explosion to the face!!!
FireflyDoc says
Ahhh, there was a scenario in this movie ? Really ?? I tought that it was just a bunch of action scene put together that form an horrible movie ...
Anyway, the result is very very very desapointing. It was hard to not felt asleep.
We don't need a 3rd Gi Joe movie if it is still that kind of crap.
hahoo3 says
I wish we had different writers for the 3rd movie. I didn't like the script what so ever. I'm not excited.
dragon says
i would not have seen if i agreed with movie critics who get paid to rate movies i dont listen to them saw three times looking forward to third film only thing i look for in movies is how person play character from film how character looks in film that is only thing i look for in movies everything else i watch to be entertained pleased decent gijoe movie better than first one.
green hornet movie with seth rogen that sucked that movie would have better if seth rogen didnt comedy to green hornet character
Troynos says
Very disappointed that the same screen writers will be involved. The script was the worst part of the movie and they put so many damn holes in it. Chu saved the script and made it a decent action movie.
Glut of villains? Yeah, that's exactly what I want to see, a bunch of no-personality/under-developed named characters running across the screen. It's a movie, there isn't time to develop them, so they just become names & faces. No thanks.
If going to have Major Bludd in the movie, I want development. I don't want another Zandar.
Immortal_Joker says
I think I will wait for the DVD/Blu Ray release of the third film, I aint bothering to watch it in theaters now after reading this interview
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