Okay…don’t ask me how this happened, because I remember watching this trailer a couple of weeks ago, and I could have sworn I also posted a story for it, but apparently I’m smoking something. Or I was smoking something.
Regardless of my potential drug habit, this Korean version of the initial G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer hit the ‘net at least a couple of weeks ago, I believe, and is mostly unremarkable, with the exception of a few brief glimpses of more Storm Shadow. In Korea, Byung-Hun Lee is pretty hot stuff, so it only makes sense that the trailer for that market would have more Lee and less shirt. Ya know, for the ladies.
Check it out embedded below, and I apologize for somehow missing this. You’ll also find it mirrored on the G.I. Joe: Retaliation Film SuperPage as well.
Toy Fair is over a week past, and some video interviews are still emerging from the floor of the Hasbro showroom. This time around, Cinema Blend talks to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, and D.J. Cotrona.
You can check the video interviews at Cinema Blend, or look at the embedded videos below.
Another day, another great interview from Mike Ryan of the Huffington Post (which is then posted on Moviefone, who is owned by AOL… uhhh.. I give up).
Corporate weirdness aside, Mike Ryan has not been ashamed of his nerdy backgrounds throughout Toy Fair weekend, which is great for us, because I think he’s managed to get the best interviews of G.I. Joe: Retaliation cast and crew.
Unfortunately this interview apparently “wraps up” the Toy Fair coverage, but it’s another great one, as DJ Cotrona admits his feelings for the initial Rise of Cobra film, and name drops Larry Hama.
Adrianne Palicki is apparently more familiar with Jem and the Holograms than she is with Lady Jaye, but she’s a girl, we’ll let that slide. Meanwhile, you have to check out the latest interview right here, it’s another good one, and even without any real break through information, it immediately makes me once again feel good about the direction of this film and how the stars feel about it.
That’s been a bone of contention among fans for quite a while now…just how threatening IS Cobra Commander? If you can get past his numerous bodyguards, mercenaries, ninjas, and leather clad females, is he ripe for the taking? So far, the answer has really been “yes”. Sure, he had his trusty battle armor in 1987, but you figure anyone who needs layers of titanium and kevlar to fight back just might be a bit of a wuss.
Well, that may not be the case in G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Cobra Commander just might be a mastermind, and a powerhouse. MTV spoke with Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, who referenced “Cobra” a few times during the interview. Of course, it’s uncertain whether he was talking about Cobra Commander specifically, or more likely Cobra themselves as a whole. Check out that interview here, or embedded below.
Along with The Rock, MTV also interviewed Jon Chu, who had several things to say about reinventing Cobra Commander. It sounds like the production team behind the G.I. Joe sequel certainly understands the importance of a well done Cobra Commander to the franchise and chose to essentially rebuild the character from scratch. It certainly sounds like they’ve got some interesting ideas with his voice, too.. check it out right here, or embedded below.
This has come out online as a “new” G.I. Joe: Retaliation trailer, and technically it is…but it appears to be pretty much the same as the French trailer we saw a little while ago, just without the pesky subtitles, and in a bit better quality.
I gotta tell you, the highlight of my day over the past few days has been when Moviefone posts their latest interview. Mike Ryan has some nerd credibility and is asking all the right questions, though this time he puts a narrow focus on The Rock and Roadblock.
Many Joe fans have been curious as to whether or not they would pay homage to Roadblock’s rhyming talents in the G.I. Joe: Retaliation film, and I even hypothosized that perhaps the Jay-Z line was one of those homages…and it sounds like that might have been right on the money:
“Roadblock in the Larry Hama comic book is a lot different than Roadblock in the cartoon who rhymed everything. Did you ever say, “I’m not doing this if I’m rhyming the entire movie.”
[Laughs] Well, there was no conversation that he should be rhyming the entire movie. But what was important was to pay homage to the character — in terms of his look, in terms of his culinary skills…
Yes, he is a chef…
And in terms for his love and passion for poetry — but not necessarily rhyming. It’s my interpretation that he loved poetry. Look, we opened up the Super Bowl spot with him quoting Jay-Z — and that’s Roadblock’s interpretation of wonderful poetry. So there are a lot of components that we paid homage to. He was not rhyming for the entire movie. Nor does he give body massages…”
So not only does The Rock know his Roadblock history, but sounds like he’s a fan of the Fensler Films as well.
Another sticking point for the fandom post Toy Fair were the Arashikage tattoos that were visible on various toys throughout the showroom. Well, Mike Ryan read our minds and brought that up as well.
“Last thing, I noticed the Roadblock action figure has the Arashikage tattoo that Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow have. So Roadblock is a member now?
One of the cool things is our backstory — and we cover this in the film — that Roadblock trains with Snake Eyes and the Arashikage. So, he has that ability, which has yet to be seen — but we will see it.”
I will confirm that yes, during the Toy Fair presentation, Hasbro reps mentioned Roadblock’s training with Snake Eyes…but to become a full fledged member of the Arashikage? I don’t know about that one. We’ll see how that turns out. Once again, hit up Moviefone to read the full interview, lots of great stuff. More kudos to Mike Ryan for asking the good questions.