Zombieland Writers Reveal G.I. Joe Sequel Plans
Posted 02.18.10 by Ryan
Fans of G.I. Joe had to breathe a collective sigh of relief when Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were hired to write the sequel to last summer's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The script is in the early stages of development, but in an interview with MTV, the writing duo mentioned a few of their ideas for G.I. Joe 2.
"We can say that we will be faithful to the first film," said Reese. "We will not be ignoring events from the first in the second." Wernick continued: "It will be a sequel. It will be a continuation of G.I. Joe [as it was established last summer]."
Wernick says the pair will soon head out to Hasbro headquarters — the toy manufacturer behind the real American heroes — to gather more ideas and where Reese says they will exchange sequel plans.
We're going to be open to what they have, and we're presenting them with what we have; it will be a meeting of the minds. G.I. Joe should be fun, it should be a ride. That's what we feel like Zombieland was, and we hope to bring that to the G.I. Joe franchise
also.
It's hard to think of it being any bigger; [The Rise of Cobra] was a big movie. They blew up a lot of stuff. We hope for it to be as fun, that the characters really pop. We'll be introducing some new characters.
Both of the writers agree the project is "a dream come true," though the experience is a particularly personal one for Reese.
My very first movie was a G.I. Joe movie; I used the little G.I. Joe action figures [as my actors]. I was like 9; the sad thing was that I figured I could do stop-motion with a video camera — and we know that stop motion doesn't work with a video camera for anyone who's ever tried it, especially the old video cameras — so, I realized pretty quickly that it wouldn't be a seamless motion. I'd
set them up, deliver the lines.
If I could get in a time machine and go tell my 11-year-old self [that he's writing the G.I. Joe sequel] he'd be dancing, running through the street doing cartwheels…