Mark Whalberg was originally rumored as being a favorite of Stephen Sommers, the director behind the movie. But, with that apparently falling through, which big-named actor has stepped forward, eager to take the role?
According to IESB’s Robert Sanchez, via some Hollywood gossip, that man is George Clooney! Hence the baffling.
Having just walked away from Joe Carnahan’s White Jazz due to apparent scheduling conflicts, we find that he also wanted to headline a blockbuster movie. According to insiders, his sights were set on G.I. Joe. That same grapevine is suggesting that he has been offered the role of Duke.
(From Wikipedia) Duke is the code name of First Sergeant Conrad S. Hauser. He is field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team after Hawk. He is one of the key characters of G.I. Joe and a fan-favorite. He is generally regarded by fans as the poster boy for G.I. Joe because he is usually the first character they recognize and identify with.
His file states that he hails from St. Louis, Missouri and is fluent in English, French and German, as well as several Southeast Asian dialects. He was at the top of his class at Fort Benning, has undergone Special Forces training and worked with South Vietnamese Tribesmen. He was also an instructor in four different Special Forces schools. Despite his accomplishments, he has repeatedly turned down any officer commissions offered to him. He believes a commander's place is with his troops, not behind the battle lines.
So while, as with all rumors, this is to be taken with a grain of salt, it comes from the same source that confirmed for IESB that Stuart Beattie would be on scripts and Sommers would be in the director’s chair.
In more G.I. Joe news, and in lieu of the almost-certain impending strike in the Screenwriters Guild, The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Paramount have asked for three separate scripts for the film. The plan, allegedly, is to pick the best parts of the three and combine them.
Those involved in the novel tri-partite draft effort are Stuart Beattie (30 Days of Night), John Lee Hancock (The Alamo) and the writing team of Brian Koppelman and David Levien (The Winter of Frankie Machine).
Other movies, like X-Men Origins: Wolverine, have also come under the crunch in the last weeks. With a strike that could go in to effect this Thursday (the 1st of November) that carries some very harsh penalties, there is a lot of scrabbling.
"Normally, you'd give notes and they go off and they write, take their time, do some things in the notes and not others," a studio exec said. "Everyone is playing for the same team now. That way, we have our best shot at making a movie."
For a fuller run down of what is happening in the movie industry, head on over to my blog, where I give a bit of a run down on the latest news that I’ve been able to cobble together.
Update
The wonderful folks over at IESB have followed up on the Hollywood Reporter stories suggestion that three writers have been asked to write three different scripts. They got the following answer from Paramount.
“Stuart Beattie has completed the script and two writers have been brought in to polish certain scenes of the film before this weeks WGA deadline, they are not writing different scripts.”
Always on the ball those ones...