Oh EW, why do you wait to put your exclusives online? We’ll give you a link to your homepage cause the magazine is the gift that will keep on giving this week.
Many sites have been pointing to action figures to reveal what Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Cobra Commander will look like in the upcoming summer toy adaptation tentpole “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” but EW has the first real photo still of the actor in masked uniform from the film (to be clear, it’s not online yet).
Are we losing a smart, young thesp like Gordon-Levitt to the other, blockbuster side? Many people were aghast when it was announced that the actor was playing the main villain in ‘G.I Joe,’ but he doesn’t seem to care.
“You know the grand tradition of acting — it all comes from masks,” he told EW. “And this may be the only chance I’ll get to do this kind of acting.” He’s also unapologetic for taking the role. “People always smirk when I say this, but when i saw the designs for the character I play in ‘G.I. Joe,’ it was like, ‘Wow! How’d I get to be that guy?’ That’s exciting to me.”
The producers of the film insist the picture is not based on the 1980s animated series and instead takes its cues from the comic books circa ’82 and ’83. Lorenzo di Bonaventura assures fans that the picture will be devoid of any contemporary resonance and or intelligence. “This G.I. Joe has nothing to do with American foreign policy. It’s about a team of skilled operatives fighting an evil organization that’s trying to take over the world. There are no politics in it at all.”
Translation: Your extra nacho cheese will go along nicely with an extra heaping of butter, M&Ms and a large, non-diet Coca Cola (buy the toy too).
The Paramount Pictures film also stars Sienna Miller (pictured), Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid and is directed by Stephen Sommers (he helmed one of ‘The Mummy’ films we never bothered to see). Word of mouth at ShowWest was not great, even from easily aroused geek bloggers who normally have hard-ons for this type of ridiculous dreck. “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” is due in theaters on August 8.
P.S. a lime-green website is calling this photo into question. They’re part of the hard-on club we’re talking about. EW might have mislabeled it, but only those who play with the toys as adults are going to freak out over it much.