When the G.I. Joe franchise needed a savior, Danny McBride was there to answer the call.
In a wide-ranging interview with Happy Sad Confused, McBride confirmed his involvement in a G.I. Joe reboot for Paramount, adding that casting and production could begin as early as next year.
“I’ve written one, yes. I’m stoked about it. I’m really fired up about the script. Paramount seems fired up about it, so hopefully we’re shooting it next year,” McBride shared. He added that the main source of inspiration for his script was “definitely the cartoons and the comics.”
McBride’s love for G.I. Joe runs deep. He revealed that “G.I. Joe was my thing when I was a kid. I liked that more than Star Wars, more than anything. Like I loved G.I. Joe, and I still have all the characters.”
Danny McBride Initially Wanted to Make a Dreadnoks Movie
Before agreeing to write a proper G.I. Joe movie, McBride initially pitched Paramount a movie centered around recurring antagonists the Dreadnoks, a biker gang affiliated with COBRA, and led by Zaratan.
“I went to Paramount and pitched it, and they were like, ‘Well, the franchise kind of needs…to be launched. So we can’t come out with a Dreadnooks movie. Would you… have an angle for G.I. Joe proper? And I was like, hell yeah, I’ll have an angle for that,” he recalled.
McBride wrote the screenplay for his G.I. Joe reboot with Jeff Fradley and John Carcieri, who worked with him on The Righteous Gemstones. Despite McBride’s background in comedy, he assured Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz that the movie is not a comedy.
“We cracked something that we really love it. It’s not a comedy, it’s like kind of suspense and action,” McBride teased. “It’s gonna be a lot of fun. There’s that town in the comic, Springfield, which is a town that’s secretly all COBRA… that is where our film takes place.”
No casting has been announced yet, although McBride indicated that they have “some pretty interesting people lining up to be in it.” So, screenagers, place your bets now down in the comments on who you’d like to see star in the G.I. Joe reboot.
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