Jon Chu, the director of the newly titled "G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike", G.I. Joe sequel, discussed the upcoming film this weekend while promoting the DVD release of LXD (The Legion of Extraordinary Dances). Chu discusses the visual aspects of the film, his history as a G.I. Joe fan and addressed the skeptic fans.
"Cobra Strike" is the second film in the series, but as Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner indicated: the film would not be a complete reboot, but that it would feature a story that didn’t require any knowledge of the previous installment.
The decision to hire Jon Chu to direct the sequel surprised both the supporters and detractors of the original film (2009's "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra". Chu’s previous films "Step Up 2: The Streets", "Step Up 3D", and the Justin Bieber documentary/concert film "Never Say Never", aren't exactly traditional films for these comic book films.
Chu defends his personal fandom of the series: “Well, for Joe, I grew up playing with G.I. Joes and watching Joe and reading the comics of Joe. It means so much to me. To me, it’s one of the few brands that has a soul, a multi-generational soul, where it’s about what it means to be a leader in the community, in your home, with your friends, and what it means to be a leader and a hero. I think that’s an important message right now in the world when everyone’s kind of questioning what it means to be the leader of the world.”
To address the questions and lack of confidence in transitioning to the action genre:
“I think it’s not just another action movie. Maybe the first one was that, but we’re really trying to break it down and take the shine off and show that my Joes were the ones in the mud, the sand and the trees and in the epic worldwide adventures. Each one had individual talents. So we really want to bring the experience of what I grew up with playing with these toys. What it feels like so that kids now can be reintroduced to the Joes and experience it in a different way. This is like down and dirty Joe for me.”
Chu concludes the recent interview by insisting that he understands how to use action as a form of visual storytelling:
“I mean, I can’t ever change what people think … In action, obviously it’s different, you’re doing a bunch of stuff. But the best action is action that’s telling your story, action that’s actually evolving your character. To me, I have a big challenge ahead of me. I want to do a really kick-ass movie, action that’s fun, big, crazy. But at the same time, at it’s core, the action is telling an emotional story about our heroes.”
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