Marlon Wayans and Joseph Gordon-Levitt Join the Cast of G.I. Joe
Despite my nostalgic interest in the G.I. Joe feature film, there are definitely a lot of doubts in my mind as to whether or not this will turn out to be a movie worth watching. There had previously been a lot of concerns about the quality of the script, written by Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean, Collateral, 30 Days of Night), but now I’m starting to get a little more concerned about the casting. Thus far we have heard Sienna Miller, Ray Park, Byung-hun Lee and Rachel Nichols are on board, and most recently, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (aka Mr. Eko on Lost) signed on to play Heavy Duty, while Said Taghmaoui (The Kite Runner) stepped into the role of Breaker.
Now this week we have news that Marlon Wayans will be joining the cast as airborne infantry trooper Ripcord. There’s no doubt that Wayans is probably the most recognizable name to join so far, but he’s also one that’s going to have a lot of people questioning the sanity of the film’s producers. Yeah, Ripcord wasn’t a black dude in the cartoon, but that’s not really the issue here. The issue is that Marlon Wayans brings with him the baggage of numerous dumb ass comedies like White Chicks and Little Man. To be fair, he was quite good in Requiem for a Dream and The Ladykillers, but let’s not forget Dungeons & Dragons, his previous “comic relief in a big action movie” role.
Countering this worrisome news is the announcement that Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to join the cast as well, although we don’t yet know for what part. Gordon-Levitt has impressed me with his latest performances in Brick and The Lookout and should bring a measure of dramatic credibility to the proceedings (maybe a little too much, but I digress).
As the cast begins to take shape, the one question on my mind is, where are the big stars? Typically these are the first people to be firmed up for a movie like this, but we still don’t know who will play Duke or the lead villain. Comparatively speaking, Transformers didn’t have any big stars outside of Shia LaBeouf, but the difference is that the stars of Transformers were supposed to be the massive robots not the humans. G.I. Joe has no such luxury. Is Stephen Sommers putting together a borderline b-movie cast here? Honestly, I don’t have a problem with that, and coming from the guy who directed The Mummy and Van Helsing, should we expect any less? This movie is going to be silly any way you cut it, but I certainly don’t look forward to Marlon Wayans spouting off wisecracks every two minutes.
Comments (7)
He was pretty decent in Requiem…
Posted by dario on January 7th, 2008Nobody see Gordon-Levitt in Greg Araki’s MYSTERIOUS SKIN?
Posted by Kurt on January 7th, 2008Kurt: Haven’t seen Mysterious Skin but would like to. My/our defense of Independence Day may be a bit of a cop out since I kind of played the “guilty pleasure” card. But sometimes you like what you like, right?
Posted by Sean on January 7th, 2008After seeing Gordon-Levitt in Brick and The Lookout I wanted to see Mysterious Skin, but the synopsis and subject matter turned me off. I don’t know anyone who has seen it though. I will see Araki’s Smiley Face this week though
Posted by Primal on January 7th, 2008I looked away on more than one occasion during Mysterious Skin. Loved JGL’s performance but I doubt I can ever stomach a second viewing of that film.
And all I can say for his involvement here is that sometimes, everyone needs a paycheck.
Posted by Marina on January 7th, 2008Levitt is definitely an actor I will be following this is intriguing news. He seems young like he’s still playing kids (Brick) or young adults (The Lookout) I’m not sure would he be playing “the kid” in GI Joe? Did that cartoon have a kid?
Posted by Ian on January 7th, 2008Maybe he will play the kid in the safety PSA at the end of the movie.
Posted by Sean on January 7th, 2008Leave a Reply