Zombieland Writers talk about writing the G.I. Joe Sequel
I'm a huge fan of G.I. Joe, at least of the animated series and toy line that I grew up loving. Unfortunately, I was incredibly let down by the live-action film G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. I hate the fact they are making a sequel, I like the fact that Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are writing it, but I don't want to hate them for it. I just think nothing good will come from this film franchise.
In a recent interview with MTV they talk about their plans for the sequel and how it will be closer to the roots of the toyline. The begin by saying how excited they are and how huge of G.I. Joe fans they were while growing up. Reese goes on to say,
My very first movie was a ‘G.I. Joe’ movie; I used the little ‘G.I. Joe’ action figures [as my actors], I was like 9; the sad thing was that I figured I could do stop-motion with a video camera - and we know that stop motion doesn’t work with a video camera for anyone who’s ever tried it, especially the old video cameras – so, I realized pretty quickly that it wouldn’t be a seamless motion. I’d set them up, deliver the lines.
I actually did the same exact thing when I was a kid! I made a G.I. Joe movie and a Star Trek movie using action figures. They're so freakin' awful it's ridiculous. Anyway, they go into some detail about what they want to do for the sequel.
We can say that we will be faithful to the first film. We will not be ignoring events from the first in the second. It’s hard to think of it being any bigger; that was a big movie. They blew up a lot of stuff. We hope for it to be as fun, that the characters really pop. We’ll be introducing some new characters.
The first movie won't be hard to top at all, the movie sucked. I hope they realize it's not about being a bigger film, it's about telling a better story. Who knows what the studio wants them to do though. The executives are the ones steering the project. To help give them inspiration they are headed out to Hasbro headquarters to check out some toys.
We’re going out to Pawtucket, Rhode Island to the Hasbro headquarters next week. [We’ll] talk to the toy guys, take a tour of the facility, see all the old toys, the new toys and just get inspired. We’re going to be open to what they have, and we’re presenting them with what we have; it will be a meeting of the minds.This is a dream come true. If I could get in a time machine and go tell my 11-year-old self this he’d be dancing, running through the street doing cartwheels… ‘G.I. Joe’ should be fun, it should be a ride. That’s what we feel like ‘Zombieland’ was, and we hope to bring that to the ‘G.I. Joe’ franchise also.
All I can hope for is a sequel that will be better than the first one. If it looks like its going to be just as bad, then you can count me out. I don't see how these two writers can save what's already been ruined.