Discharged: Sommers Off G.I. Joe?!
Written on August 15, 2007 by Heath McKnight
According to Mania.com, Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) has already been asked to leave the film.
So what happened? Creative differences? Fan uproar? What??
Simple: money.
Apparently, Sommers wanted $10 million to direct (not sure if he was scripting as well), which is a lot of money considering Van Helsing had a lukewarm reception. Obviously the studio shot that down, and now are looking for a new director.
Good for them - Sommers thinks WAYYY too much of himself considering the generic by-the-numbers crap he turns out.
(Way to turn Mummy 2 into a ZENA episode, Ace....)
No kidding, Van Helsing should have been a no-brainer. He made a mess of that too. There are plenty of good directors who would fit this movie, McTiernan is a great idea.
The hard part will be the script. What do they put in it for story line? What do they leave out? There are tons of characters, vehicles, and locations in the cartoons. Which characters will be used? Which vehicles will be used? Which locations from the cartoon will be included? I'm not saying it can't be done, but I'm nervous for this film and the likelihood that it will under impress the viewers.
They can't go and make an Army movie and slap on the names of the characters in the cartoons. If they don't follow with the cartoon and the styles in them, I see it being a complete loss.
From what I've heard, the script is pretty disapointing to be polite. Something involving Action Man(?) as the main hero and some villian name the "Dude"(??).
Hope the script rumor if false.
