Posted on Tuesday, October 18th, 2011 by Angie Han
There’s a little bit of something for everyone in today’s very full TV Bits, whether your preference is for lightweight comedies, serious dramas, humanoid robots, or good-looking serial killers. After the jump:
- HBO and the creators of Big Love team up for an unconventional family drama
- Fox buys a boy genius sitcom from the guy who plays Kurt’s dad on Glee
- Marlon Wayans makes a return to television with a buddy cop project for ABC
- Bunim/Murray and GameSpot prep an online series about gaming
- NBC unveils a plan to bring Grimm to you early
- FX gives a fifth season to Kurt Sutter’s Sons of Anarchy
- Marvel announces a comic book series for fans of Dexter
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For a minute there, it looked as if Eddie Murphy‘s career might have a trampoline off which it could rebound. Murphy was tapped as the lead in a Richard Pryor biopic (Richard Pryor: Is it Something I Said) and while that would have been waaay on-the-nose casting (Murphy has never been shy about noting the debt his early act owed to Pryor) it might have rescued Murphy’s rep from the pit of shit in which he’s kept it penned for years. But Murphy dropped out of the pic, and now Marlon Wayans is in ‘advanced talks’ to take the role for Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Prods. version of Pryor’s life. Read More »
OK, strictly speaking, I don’t know if a sequel to White Chicks is actually the worst idea of the day, because I’ve never seen White Chicks. And, if things go well, I may never. (Which is a closed-minded attitude I rarely take, but life’s too short, and there are too many other good movies, to see White Chicks.) THR reports that Marlon and Shawn Wayans will return as FBI agents who pose as white women. Keenan Ivory Wayans will direct, and all three Wayanses are writing. Read More »
Paramount Pictures has released four new character posters for Stephen Sommer‘s big screen live-action G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The posters were on display at a licensing fair in June, but Filmz.ru is the first site to have official scans. The posters feature (clockwise) Ray Park as Snake Eyes, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Channing Tatum as Duke, and Sienna Miller as Baroness. What is with Paramount’s marketing department and their obsession with desaturated character shots recently?
From the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite co-ed GI JOE team, based from it’s headquarters The Pit, deploys the latest in next-gen spy and military equipment to fight crooked arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious COBRA organization from plunging the world into chaos.
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra hits theaters on August 7th 2009.
Note to self: Must download Photoshop, arggghh. The Sun Times reports that a lawyer for troubled r&b godsend and aspiring Batman, R. Kelly, has used the Wayans Brothers‘ masterpiece, Little Man, in court to explain why it might not be Kells on that infamous, illegal sextape…
[R. Kelly's attorney], in an attempt to suggest that Kelly’s head could have been superimposed onto somebody else’s body in the sex tape, asked [gal on witness stand] whether she had seen the Wayans brothers’ movie “Little Man.”
[Attorney] said, “They put the head of Marlon Wayans on a midget and it looked real, didn’t it?”
But, to widespead laughter, [gal on witness stand] replied, “Not really!”
Everyone let the person nearest you pinch away. Got tickets to the trial? Our desktops are littered with privy movie scripts that we’re just dying to trade!
Discuss: [explosion of scenes from Riki-Oh]
via Vulture [thanks!]
Update: We’ve updated this story with high resolution photos that Paramount sent us.
Paramount has released photos of the cast of Stephen Sommer’s live-action G.I. Joe movie.
Chris Eccleston as James McCullen Destro XXIV. McCullen’s Military Armaments Research System is the largest manufacturer of state-of-the-art weaponry, providing high-tech arms to any side able to meet his price and will incite war where it does not exist. Unfortunately the character photo was taken before McCullen’s face was disfigured, and covered by A swarm of nano-mites, giving him the iconic metallic mask, which allows the Cobra Commamder to control his mind. I think it would have been much cooler to show what Destro looks like in the mask. This photo is just a lame photo of a business man standing in-front of a vault that reads “MARS”.
Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow, the white ninja a henchman and adversary for Snake Eyes. Throughout their history, the duo have been everything to one another from the bitterest of enemies, to the most loyal of friends (and blood brothers) who would fight and die for one another. He is the only member of the team to change sides several times, conflicted in loyalties between Cobra, G.I. Joe and his long relationship with his swordbrother Snake-Eyes.
Former Lost star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Heavy Duty, who serves as the G.I. Joe Team’s heavy ordnance specialist with a passion for classical guitars and Bach. He is described as being unafraid of any situation despite heavy enemy fire.
Saïd Taghmaoui as Breaker, the team’s original communications officer who has a habit of chewing bubblegum in any situation. He is also familiar with practically every bit of communication gear on the planet.
Sienna Miller as The Baroness. Baroness serves as the COBRA Organization’s intelligence officer and lieutenant to Cobra Commander. In both comic and cartoon incarnations, the ruthless femme fatale has had romantic relationships with Destro.
Dennis Quaid as General Hawk. He looks anything but tough, and the opposite of cool.
Channing Tatum as Duke, a First Sergeant and field commander who is second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team after Hawk. At least his body armor looks cool.
Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, ranked Sergeant, an Airborne and demolition specialist of the G.I. Joe Team.
Ray Park as Snake Eyes, one of the original members of the GI Joe series. Hasbro has released over 30 figures of the character since his debut in 1982. Not much is known about the ninja master’s real identity, as it has remained classified throughout the series. The U.S. Army Sergeant First Class (E-7) is known for his stealth like movements and extensive knowledge of multiple forms of martial arts. Snake-Eyes is romantically involved with fellow G.I. Joe member Master Sergeant Shana M. O’Hara, a.k.a. Scarlett.
Rachel Nichols as Scarlett. Ranked Master Sergeant, red-headed Scarlett is the first female character in the GI Joe action figure line. Her weapon of choice is the crossbow (pictured in the promo photo), and her specialty is counter intelligence.
G.I. Joe hits theaters on August 7th 2009.
Discuss: What do you think?
Images Removed at Request from Paramount
Last month Paramount released photos of Snake Eyes, earlier this week they released our first look at Scarlett, and now [Link Removed] has apparently gotten an exclusive first look at the cast of Stephen Sommers’ GI Joe: Channing Tatum as Duke, Karolina Korkova as Cover Girl, Marlon Wayans as Ripcord, Byung-hun Lee as Storm Shadow, Sienna Miller as The Baroness, and Dennis Quaid as Hawk. The response from fans so far has been a bit underwhelming, however I’m actually more impressed than disappointed (maybe due to already low expectations). What do you guys think?
Images Removed at Request from Paramount
IESB had the lucky chance to chat with G.I. Joe producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura the day after the third (or is it fourth?) fan backlash against the live action big screen adaptation (Coincidence, I think not!). If you haven’t been following, yesterday it was announced that Marlon Wayans was cast as Ripcord (Boooo!) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in negotiations to join the film (YAY!). di Bonaventura attempts to defend the Waynes decision by telling us that there wasn’t a “person who didn’t think it was a no-brainer.” Ummm What?:
“When we were trying to figure out who would be the right element to make this combination work of Duke as the leader and Ripcord as the best friend who sorta gets Duke in trouble all the time and Duke has to bail him out all the time and have fun with him, we needed a guy who’s gonna be funny and we needed a guy who was going to be a good actor. And we went to Marlon and said, “We’d love to talk to you.” And he’s a gigantic GI Joe fan and immediately asked, “is Cobra in it, is Destro in it?” I mean before he even got to read the script he was so much fun to talk to because he understood what it was. So he got it immediately, and when we did the test.”
“It was frankly the easiest casting decision we’ve made in the movie once we saw the test.”
“…He’s playing a military character who’s got some real good quips but he’s got to be good, he’s got to be physical, and I mean Marlon is a strapping guy, he’s got good size to him. So, I think the fans will feel, when they see him, that he is playing the solider that they anticipate anyone from the G.I. Joe group to be.
Other tidbits include:
- They have not yet cast Destro but have narrowed the list down to about 4 or 5 names: “All of them are of the English, Irish, Scottish persuasion shall we say.”
- Destro, Zartan and Hawk will be announced in the next two weeks.
- “In the comic book, you don’t know where the location of the Pit [G.I. Joe headquarters] is. So, the idea that it’s based in Brussels is false, the idea that it is a European base or an international kind of organization is false. It is the G.I. Joe Organization.”
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to play a Villain role
- “Duke is absolutely the embodiment of what the pre-83 Joe is. And what the pre-83 Joe is The Real American Hero”
- They again have the U.S. Army’s support.
- “There is an international aspect, we’re travelling around, we’re going to be a lot of places and it’s going to be really fun, it doesn’t make it an international…it isn’t the fear that everyone is having, we just want to have different places around the world to give the movie scope.”
- They are not currently planning for a sequel or spin-off film.
- Assumption is that the movie will be PG-13, but definitely not R (Read: could possibly be PG).
Shooting begins in a mere five weeks but di Bonaventura is making idiotic statements like “we’re looking at it from a budgetary standpoint and how many characters can we afford.” Doesn’t sound good to me. But don’t worry Joe fans, Lorenzo promises that “if you’re a Joe vs. Cobra fan, then you will be feel incredibly happy about the movie.” I’ve always wanted to “feel happy” about a movie…
You can read the full interview on IESB.
