Rama’s SCREEN

Some movie buffs out there are disappointed about how the movie version of G.I. JOE is going so far, the recent casting of Marlon Wayans and the confusion whether or not the it’s going to stay as Real American Hero or an International Team aren’t helping either. Big time producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (Transformers) had a discussion with IESB to assure the disappointed fans.

About Marlon Wayans playing Ripcord, he had this to say…

Well, let’s talk about Marlon for a second. A lot of people are fans of his from the comedic point of view obviously for all the right reasons, but what I think everybody forgets about is how damn good he was in Requiem for a Dream as an actor.

I’ve seen Requiem for A Dream, that was one of the most depressing movies of all time but at the same time I thought it was excellent filmmaking and Marlon’s part in that movie was not what made the movie. Meaning… if someone else had played the role, he would’ve done as good or better job than him and the movie would’ve still been great.

we needed a guy who’s gonna be funny and we needed a guy who was going to be a good actor. And we went to Marlon and said, “We’d love to talk to you.” And he’s a gigantic GI Joe fan and immediately asked, “is Cobra in it, is Destro in it?” I mean before he even got to read the script he was so much fun to talk to because he understood what it was. So he got it immediately, and when we did the test, you know, we all looked at each other and the studio and there isn’t one person who didn’t think it was a no-brainer.

No-brainer? Casting Marlon is a sign of a person with no brain.
Just because he’s a fan doesn’t make him right for the job.
Because if that’s the case then the producers should just hire every G.I. JOE schmo fans out there to play the characters in the movie and that would be a sergeant catastrophe.

So, from our point of view, he’s playing a military character who’s got some real good quips but he’s got to be good, he’s got to be physical, and I mean Marlon is a strapping guy, he’s got good size to him. So, I think the fans will feel, when they see him, that he is playing the solider that they anticipate anyone from the G.I. Joe group to be.

I’m guessing Marlon Wayans is going to bulk up, then?
But still.. bad casting.

In the interview Bonaventura said that they’ll be casting actors to play Zartan, Hawk and Destro in the next couple of weeks or so. He’s not revealing much but that they’re looking for someone Scottish to play Destro, the Cobra second-in-command.
He also gave some praise to actor Ray Parks set to play Snake Eyes.

Bonaventura compared the G.I. JOE movie project to Batman Begins.
Now that’s just blasphemous.
I guess I can understand why. Batman Begins was such awesome take on Superhero movie that every other superhero movies out there try to catch up to its greatness.

Bonaventura implied that the status of TRANSFORMERS 2 is still uncertain at this point. He said…

We’re nowhere because of the strike, we won’t know until we come back. We have a very fine outline and we know exactly where we want go with the movie but until this writers strike comes back, we’ll find out exactly where we are. Michael (Bay) is completely on top of every detail. He’s designed a lot of great stuff already. He’s got a lot of great sequences imagined but you know, he needs some writers to work with before he’s ready to go, so I would say June 2nd is an unofficial start, it’s the target date we’d like to go for but, you know, we’ve got to get some writers to help us.

Writer’s strike…. when is this nightmare going to be over??
I think Bonaventura should make a contest. Transformers fans out there can come up with original script and submit their work. Whoever the producers choose as the best script will win the prize and with a little touch up here and there, the script would be the foundation for the movie’s storyline.
Wouldn’t that be sweeet?!!

* To read the full interview between IESB and Bonaventura just click on the image below.