Paramount’s new G.I. Joe movie has found its director, and he’s a real comedy commander. Danny McBride, the star of Eastbound & Down, Pineapple Express, and The Righteous Gemstones, has been tapped to helm an adaptation based on the popular Hasbro action figures.
And while that decision, first reported by The Wrap, sounds wild on its own, there is some history here. Earlier this year, McBride was tapped to write one of multiple G.I. Joe scripts that the studio would then choose from. We then learned, earlier this month, that his script was done, Paramount loved it, and it was moving forward. “We sat down, and we cracked something that we really love a lot,” he said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “Weirdly, it grounds G.I. Joe. It’s not a comedy. It’s kind of suspense and action, and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
McBride went on to give a few details of the film, mainly that it follows one of the most popular Joe characters, the leader Duke, as he leads a group of Joes into Springfield, a fictional town from the comics that is secretly occupied by the mortal enemy of G.I. Joe, Cobra. “G.I. Joe was my thing when I was a kid,” McBride said. “I liked that more than Star Wars, more than anything. Like I loved G.I. Joe.”
Though he’s best known as a comedic actor, McBride has been equally impressive behind the camera too. He, of course, helped create the shows Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, and The Righteous Gemstones, while also writing scripts for films like Your Highness and Halloween. He also directed multiple episodes of Vice Principals and Gemstones, though G.I. Joe will be his feature debut.
The G.I. Joe franchise has had a pretty disappointing run at the movies, especially in live action. A 2009 film did well enough to warrant a sequel, but its 2013 follow-up didn’t follow suit. The spin-off/reboot Snake Eyes then did even worse in 2021, forcing everyone to step back and reevaluate the franchise’s future. A tease at the end of the most recent Transformers movie, Rise of the Beasts, seemed promising, though, and now it seems that McBride’s film will be the next one.
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