Paramount’s origin story/reboot/spin-off film ‘G.I. Joe – Snake Eyes’ now has Andrew Koji onboard to play Storm Shadow. The studio is pivoting to ‘Snake Eyes’ before moving forward (again) with a third mainline ‘G.I. Joe’ film.
Koji is currently leading the Cinemax series ‘Warrior,’ which is already getting a second season. He was recently in the Netflix series ‘The Innocents’ and the second season of Starz’s ‘American Gods.’ He even had an appearance in Justin Lin’s ‘Fast & Furious 6.’
Henry Golding (‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ ‘A Simple Favor’) will play the titular character. The characters Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow are best friends who eventually become enemies.
Moreover, some plot details for the film are below:
“When we meet this new, younger Snake Eyes, it’ll be as a street fighter in Peru. Driven by the desire to avenge the death of his father, Snake Eyes is apparently a man on the move until he ends up in Japan, where he and his best friend, Tommy, aka Storm Shadow, will begin their training with the Arashikage Clan. The film will see at least three of the clan’s legendary masters as they train Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow as Hard Master, Soft Master and Blind Master are all set to appear. Also present at the Arashikage compound is the film’s female lead, Akita. In comic continuity, Junko Akita was an apprentice and lover of Storm Shadow; here she is the head of security and will be a love interest for Snake Eyes.”
The role of Snake Eyes needed to be recast, due to the fact that the original actor, Ray Park, is too old to be playing a younger version of the character. Thus, Byung-Hun Lee, who played Storm Shadow in the installments ‘The Rise of Cobra’ and ‘Retaliation,’ also had to be recast.
Meanwhile, Robert Schwentke (‘RED,’ ‘Insurgent’) serves as director. The screenplay is from Evan Spiliotopoulos (‘Beauty and The Beast,’ ‘Death Note 2’).
Spiliotopoulos previously gave a comment regarding the classic action-martial arts tone of the film:
“Our vision is if it was a Hong Kong movie of the ’70s directed by Akira Kurosawa. I wish I could get into story but that’s the idea of going back to a rough-and-tumble, you know, Bruce Lee movie but directed by one of the greatest Japanese filmmakers of all-time.”
Additionally, the crew members, so far, comprise of cinematographer Bojan Bazelli (‘Pete’s Dragon,’ ‘A Cure for Wellness’) and special effects supervisor Joel Whist (‘War for the Planet of the Apes,’ ‘Altered Carbon’).
Further, filming will begin October 15th and wrap December 9th. Filming locations include Japan, the major setting of the film, and Vancouver, Canada.
Paramount will release the film on October 16, 2020.
Source: The Wrap