Way back at Comic Con in 2006, producer Lorenzo DiBonaventura told the press that the GI Joe movie would include Action Man, the British version of the old GI Joe (the one who was 12 inches tall), in order to maximize the film’s potential overseas. Now IESB has learned that Lorenzo has an Action Man in mind: Jason Statham.
The original script for GI Joe, by Skip Woods, apparently was written with Mark Wahlberg in mind as Duke (head of the GI Joe team) and Statham as Action Man (this must be an untenable character name, right?). That dynamic still remains, although it’s unclear whether or not Wahlberg is interested in the project. Statham, meanwhile, would probably work your kid’s birthday party if the liquor was copious enough and you supplied a babe or two.
IESB says that the GI Joe team will be based on characters from the 80s cartoon and toy line, but that they’ll have a more international flavor, to make the film a little less American and thus a little more palatable to the rest of the world which mostly hates us these days.