Take this with a heavy dose of salt, but according to SchmoesKnow.com, the producer of G.I. Joe 3, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura has expressed serious interest in bringing Martin Campbell in to direct the third installment of the G.I. Joe film franchise. There has been some question about Jon Chu’s involvement over the past few months, and with him currently deep into the sequel of Now You See Mee, it would appear that Paramount is preparing to move in a different direction.
Keep in mind, this is far from a done deal, and in fact this seems to just be a “wish list” item and not even an actual contract signature, but it certainly has some interesting elements to it.
On the one hand, Campbell directed Green Lantern, one of the more ill-advised comic book films to come out in recent years, but some might argue that wasn’t the fault of the directing. I couldn’t say one way or the other, I could only sit through about twenty minutes of it.
However, on the other hand, Campbell was also in the director’s chair for the most seminal James Bond film of the past twenty years, Casino Royale. That movie propelled Daniel Craig to super star status and completely reinvented the James Bond brand. Those two films seem like such polar opposites I have a hard time wrapping my head around this rumor.
Time will tell. Head over to SchmoesKnow.com for the full story.
The theatrical release of Green Lantern wasn’t bad… but the director’s cut is almost unwatchable.
Indeed. One instance where the cuts were beneficial to the story. I liked the GL movie, for the most part, but so much missed potential – MUCH LIKE GI JOE AMIRITE?!
The GL credit doesn’t sound great, but Casino Royale was really good. And I’ve always thought G.I. Joe was James Bond with a military angle. Cobra is pretty much run by Bond villains, right?
Campbell directed TWO of the more important Bond films: Goldeneye and Casino Royale. Both were films that helped to relaunch the franchise after periods of dormancy. Both are exceptional Bond films.
However, none of this means that he’d be interested in actually taking on Joe. Honestly, there’s very little reason for him to actually do so. He’s a 71 year old award-winning director who can choose his own projects now.
Doesn’t matter who the director is so long as Lorenzo di Bonaventura is allowed in the editing bay. ROC was a mess top to bottom. Retaliation was a mess because plot points got cut out of the theatrical release.
He does have experience with established characters with The Mask of Zorro, a fantastic film that solidified Antonio Bandaras as a lead star and gave Catherine Zeta-Jones a starring role when she was pretty much unknown, plus its little scene sequel the Legend of Zorro many years later. When oh when GI Joe ever catch a break with a good director.