G.I. Joe Retaliation Exclusive Interview: Filmmakers & The Rock Rivet

As soon as Movie Fanatic landed in Las Vegas, we were swept over to Rave Cinemas for a sizzle reel and preview of the G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer that we premiered earlier this week. The footage was impressive as producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers, Red) and director Jon Chu have outdone themselves with taking a lauded franchise in an entirely different direction. The casting coup was nabbing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Roadblock to lead the Joes on their next mission. As Chu called Johnson “franchise Viagra” after his work on Journey 2 and Fast Five, the helmer is hoping for the same influx of energy for his G.I. Joe.

We caught up exclusively with Di Bonaventura, Chu and Johnson here and got inside the recharged lifeblood of a franchise born decades ago that salutes our country’s soldiers and their sacrifice. Director Chu, after helming Justin Bieber’s Never Say Never, was brought to the attention of producer Di Bonaventura by Paramount and was thrilled to meet with the helmer. “What he did with that Bieber movie, which could have been anything — which I thought turned into a really good movie — it was really shocking,” Di Bonaventura said.

They also had a director in Chu who had been all about G.I. Joe since childhood. “Paramount said that this guy knows the franchise inside and out.”

Johnson said his director’s desire to bring the best Joe possible was palpable. “We have a hell of a director who is so passionate about the title, the franchise, the comics, the cartoons… everything,” the actor added.

Di Bonaventura too shared a joy for everything Joe, as his father represented the real life heroes. “My dad was a G.I. He was a paratrooper in World War II and I grew up with that,” he said and smiled. “I’ve had the opportunity to make movies with the military — this is not a military movie — but it has the connotation because of it. What that stands for is an unbelievable faith in decency and willingness to sacrifice and a desire to protect the innocent. They are really great values.”

The producer had managed to put two action heroes, Johnson and Willis, in the same movie — something no one has ever been able to do before. “It was fun. It just happened. I wish we could say we were so smart that we organized it. We didn’t,” Di Bonaventura said.

GI Joe Retaliation Trailer 2

“As we began to cast the movie, you have this character named Roadblock. You go, ‘Who could play Roadblock?’ It’s kind of like, ‘Duh.’ Fortunately Dwayne was available. I had worked with Bruce on Red so I just called him up: ‘We’re interested in your playing a guy named Joe Colton, who’s the original G.I. Joe.’ He said, ‘I played with G.I. Joes!’ He immediately got it. For him, it was an opportunity to relive his own childhood.”

Joining Willis in that virtual sandbox was Chu. The gig not only is a huge jump career-wise for the director, but also in some ways a means to meet a destiny forged in childhood. “The personality of all the Joes, is always been a part of my personality. Snake Eyes was one part. I would draw him on my books at school all the time. Roadblock with his rhyming and his cooking — they all had human characteristics that I adored. The bad guys were always kick-ass too. We tried to bring all of those aspects to the movie.”

Not one to let all the testosterone get all the spotlight, it is clear Chu is taken with the talents of Adrianne Palecki in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. “I loved her work on Friday Night Lights. She’s stunning. I didn’t know how she would be with the guns when she first met with us. She came in and grabbed the guns like she was born with them in her hands,” Chu said. “She holds her own with Bruce!”

Despite the explosive brawn of the film, Johnson wants fans of G.I. Joe to know everything that was done with G.I. Joe: Retaliation was done with love.

“We pay true homage and respect to the mythology of G.I. Joe. We went to great lengths to make sure that they were happy — from the military fatigues to the design, the costumes and making sure we pay honor to it,” Johnson said. “When you have that foundation of paying homage to the mythology, then you can branch off and grow from that. The foundation has to be solid.”

moviefanatic.com

New Photo Featuring Duke & Roadblock [G. I. Joe Retailiation]

Over the last couple of days we’ve seen a couple of amazing new trailers for G.I. Joe: Retaliation, so this simple new image of Duke and Roadblock really isn’t going to do anything for you, but posting it allows me to remind you about those trailers that were recently released. So in case you missed them, you can watch the newdomastic trailer here and the new international trailers here. Let me ask you a question… do you think Duke is going to be killed off in this movie?

Here’s the synopsis:

A follow-up to the 2009 release of G.I. JOE: THE RISE OF COBRA, which grossed over $300M worldwide, Paramount Pictures, MGM and Skydance Productions, in association with HASBRO and di Bonaventura Pictures, commences production on G.I. JOE: RETALIATION. In this sequel, the G.I. Joes are not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. The film stars D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, Adrianne Palicki, Jonathan Pryce, RZA, Ray Stevenson, Channing Tatum with Bruce Willis and Dwayne Johnson. Directed by Jon M. Chu, and produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brian Goldner, from a screenplay by Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick based on Hasbro’s G.I. Joe(R) characters, the film is scheduled to be released on June 29,2012.

Credit: geektyrant.com

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson talks ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’:

Posted: 4/16/12

Does your movie franchise require a fresh face and additional biceps poundage? Then the man to call is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The wrestler-turned-actor got his big-screen breakthrough in the 2001 sequel The Mummy Returns and more recently has spruced up both the Fast and Furious and Journey to the Center of the Earth series.

Now Johnson has joined the Joes in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, the follow-up to Paramount’s 2009 G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, which earned $300 million worldwide and received — to put matters kindly — mixed reviews. The actor’s addition to the cast isn’t the only change to the franchise: Bruce Willis joins the cast and director Jon M. Chu (Step Up 2, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never), replaces G.I. Joe helmer Stephen Sommers. Meanwhile, judging by the film’s trailer, Cobra star Channing Tatum plays a smaller part this time around.

Below, Mr. The Rock talks about G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which opens June 29, and his penchant for playing action heroes who like to crack eggs as well as skulls.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What can you tell us about G.I. Joe: Retaliation?
DWAYNE JOHNSON: I can tell you this one is creatively much different [from the first]. It’s rooted, it’s grounded, it’s real. The studio came to me and I loved the idea of starring in the movie because I grew up on G.I. Joe and it’s a massive property. I spoke to the studio and they told me about the creative shift that they wanted to make with the movie, which made it easy for me to sign on.

Franchises are often “rebooted” after three or four movies. Did the studio talk about why they wanted to do so after just one?
Sure, sure. We all talked about that. The very frank discussions that I had with the studio was, ‘We know we can do better. And let’s challenge ourselves and sit down and make the movie that’s going to entertain the world.” I can appreciate that transparency and that directness. When you’re that open from the beginning, it makes things much easier and it makes the creative process that much better.

Can you give us some idea about the plot?
Absolutely. The Cobra command is trying to take over the world. I emerge as the leader. I go get Bruce Willis and we start kicking a– all over the place and stopping that!

What can you say about your character, Roadblock?
In the mythology of G.I. Joe, Roadblock is the glue that holds the Joes together. The added layer to that for me was to make him a B.A.M.F. You know what that means?

It took me a couple of seconds, but yes.
Alright!

Who does Bruce Willis play?
Bruce Willis plays the original Joe, Joe Colton. He fitted so nicely into this role. I’ve been not only a fan of Bruce since I was a teenager but a friend of his for years now. And us together, in these roles, as a fan of movies but also as a fan of action heroes, I’m excited about this. Bruce does that very well. And when I say “that” I mean, “There’s a problem, I’m going to fix it, and I have a gun.” [Laughs] We both do that very well.

I believe Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who played one of the villains in the first movie, isn’t in Retaliation. Can you say who, if anyone, has replaced him in the role?
Well, to be honest with you, I didn’t see the first one. So I’m not quite sure. I know he’s not in it, but I’m not quite sure what role he played.

Have you still not seen the first one?
No, I didn’t want to see it. I just didn’t want that to cloud my judgment in any way as we were going down a new creative route.

Channing Tatum returns from the first one, as does Jonathan Pryce. So there are some plot connections between The Rise of Cobra and Retaliation?
Yeah, sure, sure. There are some plot connections with the first and the second. I’ll tell you this: Out of great tragedy often emerges new leaders and, through a great tragedy that takes place with the Joes. New leaders emerge.

Is it the Joes who are retaliating?
It is, yeah.

John M. Chu directed the movie. What was he like as a collaborator?
He was great to work with. He was an interesting choice at first because he had just come off the Justin Bieber movie.

I’m not sure what you’re getting at. I always think of Justin Bieber and The Rock in the same sentence.
Of course you do! [Laughs] Any time you think of Justin Bieber, you think of the Rock. So it was an interesting choice, but the studio was sold on him, and once I sat down with him I recognized right away that he was the right guy for this. One of the most interesting things about John Chu is that, from a very early age, he was always inspired by movement and dance. So to take that notion of movement and fluidity and apply that to a very big action movie — it’s a challenge, it’s a risk, but it has paid off in such invaluable ways. I’ve seen the movie and I couldn’t be happier with it and that guy is a hell of a director. Audiences are going to appreciate what he did.

Where did you shoot the movie?
We were all in New Orleans. We were the first production that was allowed to shoot inside of NASA there in New Orleans. They were nice enough to let us shoot in there, and utilize everything that they had, which was amazing. We made a complete mess of the place and probably screwed it up for any production that’s going to come in there after us. We had a lot of explosions there.  But we cleaned up everything nicely!

I believe Roadblock is also something of a chef — like your character in The Rundown. Are you a good cook yourself?
I am a hell of a cook myself.

What’s your signature dish?
My favorite dish would be blackened sea bass with a mango paste… No, I’m kidding, that’s bulls—. I can’t cook! Look at that, I had you going for a second! No, I tell you what I do: I make a hell of an egg-white omelet and I make a hell of a Don Julio shot.

Would you be up for making another G.I. Joe?
I would. Definitely. The world ain’t saving itself! Me and Bruce and the Joes, we’ve got some saving to do!

Credit: insidemovies.ew.com/

New Set Photos of G. I. Joe 2 added

Posted by Adam Chitwood October 25th, 2011

Dwayne Johnson is apparently an avid Twitter user. A couple months ago we got our first look at the actor in character as Roadblock in G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation via his Twitter account, and today he’s given us another look at him in character through a photo and a video he shot onset. It’s not much, but he teases a major action sequence being shot near him. Furthermore, you might be able to spot a familiar face from the Collider community in the set photo.

Hit the jump to check out the image and video. Directed by Jon Chu, the film also stars Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, Adrianne Palicki, D.J. Cotrona, Byung-hun Lee, Ray Park, RZA, Joseph Mazzello, Elodie Yung, and Walton Goggins. G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation opens June 29, 2012.

Image and video courtesy of Dwayne Johnson’s Twitter account:

collider.com

Walton Goggins joins cast of ‘G.I. Joe 2’

Re-posted by: Lisa Marie: @DWAYNE-JOHNSON CENTRAL @2:04pm

8/19/2011

 Posted by:  Shakala Alvaranga

Walton Goggins at the premiere of “Cowboys & Aliens”. (San Diego, CA)

Quasar/Starmax/Fotoglif

Actor Walton Goggins will join cast members Bruce Willis, Channing Tatum, and Dwayne Johnson in the upcoming film G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation.

According to Variety, the Emmy-nominated star will play Warden Nigel James in the action sequel.

Goggins appeared as Detective Shane Vendrell on The Shield and Boyd Crowder in Justified. He has appeared in Predators, Cowboys & Aliens, CSI: Miami, and Damage.

The first film in the series, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, grossed over $150 million at the box office. It has been reported that many of the original G.I. Joe cast members, including Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Christopher Eccleston, will not make appearances in the new film.

Justin Bieber: Never Say Never’s Jon Chu will direct the film that is set to be released on July 29, 2012.

thecelebritycafe.com

On location G. I. Joe production stills – [Dwayne Johnson]

Hey guys, here’s some more photos of Dwayne on location in New Orleans doing some serious training. View all…enjoy!

G. I. Joe scheduled to shoot in New Orleans – [DWAYNE-JOHNSON]

Repostd By Lisa Marie @DWAYNE-JOHNSON CENTRAL 6-30-2011

The rumors are no longer rumors: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has joined the cast of Paramount’s big-budget “G.I. Joe” sequel, which is expected to shoot in New Orleans this summer.

Dwayne Johnson, in an image from ‘Faster.’

Through his Twitter account, the “Fast Five” actor announced this week that he is, indeed, on board, apparently to play the character Roadblock.

“It’s official: Call the Pentagon, get me my big ass gun — Rocks a JOE!,” he tweeted, along with a photo of himself scowling next to a “G.I. Joe” logo.

Johnson joins Channing Tatum, who is rumored to be returning to the role he played in 2009′s original “G.I. Joe,” along with Lee Byung-hun and Ray Park. John Chu (“Step Up 3D,” “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never”) will assume directing duties from Stephen Sommers.

Although Paramount has yet to officially announce anything, “G.I. Joe 2: Cobra Strikes” — which may just be a working title — appears to be ready to begin shooting in the Crescent City on Aug. 1, with the nearly four-month shoot continuing through late November.

nola.com

Thanks to CJ for the info!!! A true TEAM BRING IT DIVA! @DJCENTRAL 2011