10 Things You Didn’t Know About G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
People from my generation waited decades to get the opportunity to see our favorite G.I. Joe characters on the big screen. For a franchise that gave so much love and joy to the masses, it sure as shit took a long time to get to the live-action stage. Having director Stephen Sommers in the driver’s seat is a pretty good way to start, if you ask me. If The Mummy series wasn’t enough to convince you that Sommers was a real player in the action/adventure genre then Deep Rising and Gunmen are there to seal the deal. I, for one, was very excited for this flick. It’s just too bad it wasn’t that good…..but, here are 10 Things You Didn’t Know About G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
Commentary with Director Stephen Sommers and producer Bob Ducsay
1.) There was a writer’s strike and a possible actors strike on the way so this script was written very quickly. Stuart Betty was on set writing pages almost every day. He finished it just a few days before the film stopped rolling.
2.) Channing Tatum and Marlon Wayans hadn’t met each other prior to filming but one year later, Marlon was in his wedding. That was a testament to how well they meshed on and off screen.
3.) The studio didn’t want Snake Eyes to have a mask on. They ended up shooting the character without a mask for two days before they were finally able to convince them to keep it on. You can still see a few scenes throughout the film where Ray Park is walking around in the back of the scene without a mask on.
4.) Brendan Fraser found out that they were doing G.I. Joe and begged to be a part of the film. He was only on set for a day but was determined to take any role they could give him.
5.) The studio didn’t want the flashbacks with Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow in the film. It wasn’t until after it was done and the audiences started liking it that they decided to keep it in the final product.
6.) The Parisian chase sequence was a massive endeavor. It was a mixture of CGI and practical effects. Many of the cars were actually being thrown and blown up while other portions were completely fabricated. The scenes were shot in both Paris and in Prague, with a bit of blue screen thrown in for good measure.
7.) There were a few lines that the filmmakers knew needed to be in there including “knowing is half the battle” and “kung fu grip”. They made sure to find places to fit those lines.
8.) Dennis Quaid didn’t have any lines or much of a role at all in the final act of the film so they just had him do some things while they had him on set to insert later. Some of them were just 2 or 3 second lines but they fit seamlessly within the story and was able to get him some screen time in the last act.
9.) They realized that in the original script Channing didn’t have much to do at the end of the film so they added the sequence where he carries The Baroness into the ship and they have the Star Wars-like battle as they escape. The original script had him carrying her unconscious body into an elevator and riding to the the top to escape while the other characters fought the climactic battle.
10.) Before Storm Shadow fell into the icy waters below, he said “It was not I who killed our master.” It didn’t test well because folks who weren’t big Joe fans didn’t understand what was happening with the two of them. They also wondered why the hero was killing an innocent man. Either way, they took the line of dialogue out and saved it for a potential sequel.
