Trivia / G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

• Actor-Inspired Element:
  • Dennis Quaid proved so popular on set that Stuart Beattie wrote "about 10-15" more scenes for his character.
  • Sienna Miller couldn't stop blinking when firing a gun, so they had the Baroness wear sunglasses in certain scenes to hide her eyes.
• Actor-Shared Background: Karolina Kurkova was a model who took a more exciting career in acting, playing Cover Girl, also a model who pursues a more exciting career in joining the team.
• Awesome, Dear Boy:
  • Joseph Gordon-Levitt signed on to the film as soon as he saw the concept art for his Cobra Commander look, with his reaction being "I'm going to wear THAT?!"
  • Sienna Miller played The Baroness because she'd had to do so many gritty dramas lately, and wanted to do something lighter.
  "I felt like it was time to do something where I wasn't having a breakdown or addicted to heroin or dying at the end, something that was just maybe really great fun and that people went to see and actually just had a great time seeing and weren't left damaged."
• Backed by the Pentagon: The Army provided an Apache helicopter and extras for the opening fight.
• Cast the Runner-Up:
  • Channing Tatum actually wanted to play Snake Eyes, but was cast as Duke instead.
  • David Murray was originally cast as Destro, but dropped it when he had problems with his visa and was replaced by Christopher Eccleston. However, Murray was able to film a flashback scene as the first Destro, James McCullen I.
  • Marlon Wayans auditioned for the role of Heavy Duty, but when it was taken by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje he was offered the role of Ripcord instead.
• Contractual Obligation Project: Channing Tatum admitted that he was in the film as part of a three-picture deal and that he hated having to be in the movie as he felt it glamorized war.
• Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: There are still people that saw this film wondering who "G.I. Joe" was. Now Hilarious in Hindsight as he's in the sequel!
• Creator Backlash:
  • Channing Tatum has been extremely vocal with his dislike of the film. He later clarified that he more hated the studio politics that forced him to do it, threatening him with a lawsuit if he refused. He's referred to the finished film's quality as "really not all that bad".
  • Christopher Eccleston revealed that he hated the film.
    Working on something like GI Joe was horrendous. I just wanted to cut my throat every day.
  • Sienna Miller said the film was "a disaster", but more so that she felt she was miscast, and maintains that people didn't want to bring her back for the sequel because of that.
    “I shouldn’t have played a villain in a comic book because I’m just not that villainous or tall or strong. I am internally, of course, but I couldn’t fire a gun without blinking. I’m not a particularly physically threatening presence. The whole thing was a bit of a disaster from start to finish.”
• Creator-Chosen Casting: Rachel Nichols was the first and only choice for Scarlet.
• Creator Killer: Stephen Sommers was already on thin ice thanks to the failure of Van Helsing, but the negative reception to this film seemed to have done this to his career in the long run; the film was profitable, but plans for future films were severely retooled in the wake of the reaction and Sommers was let go from the series. He's only directed one film since, which ended up finishing off his career as it made only $1 million at the box office on a $27 million budget.
• Dolled-Up Installment: The film first began as an original story about advanced military technology by producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Hasbro called him and suggested basing it on the GI Joe franchise.
• Dyeing for Your Art: Sienna Miller (Baroness) is actually blonde, and Rachel Nichols (Scarlett) is a brunette. Although we do see Miller Pre-Baroness with blonde hair, meaning the character is Dye Hard in-universe too.
• Fake American:
  • Jonathan Pryce is English, playing the President of the United States.
  • Sienna Miller likewise as The Baroness. Though she was born in New York, she was raised in the UK, and thus has too fake the accent.
  • Snake Eyes is played by the Scottish Ray Park, but he's a marginal example, since he's The Voiceless and therefore doesn't need to fake an accent. His child self speaks, and he's American, meaning it isn't a case of Adaptational Nationality.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Lee Byung-Hun is Korean, playing the Japanese Storm Shadow. Brandon Soo Hoo, who plays him as a child, is Chinese-American.
  • Scarlett is given Adaptational Nationality to become Canadian. Her actress Rachel Nichols is American.
• Fake Scot: English Christopher Eccleston plays Scottish James McCullen ^note  Compounding this, David Murray, the original choice for McCullen, is Irish.
• Follow the Leader: While the film had been in development before, it was the success of Transformers (2007) that got it put into production.
• On-Set Injury: During an explosion-effects misfire, Sienna Miller's suit caught fire, igniting the area between her breasts. She also sprained her wrist slipping on a rubber bullet.
• Promoted Fanboy: Marlon Wayans is an admitted fan.
• Production Posse: Stephen Sommers had directed Kevin J O'Connor in The Mummy Trilogy and Van Helsing. Likewise, both Arnold Vosloo and Brendan Fraser from the former appear in the film too.
• Real-Life Relative: Stephen Sommers's daughter Ashley and brother Michael cameo in different scenes.
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle: Rachel Nichols is a natural blonde but had already dyed her hair red for Star Trek (2009), and so kept it that way to play the redheaded Scarlet.
• Saved from Development Hell:
  • Don Murphy was going to produce the film in 2003, but he made Transformers (2007) instead. Mitchell Amundsen was the cinematographer of both films.
  • Sheldon Lettich was offered to write and direct a "G.I. Joe" movie for Warner Bros. in the early nineties. The project didn't happen for a number of reasons.
• So My Kids Can Watch: Dennis Quaid took the role of General Hawk because his son was a fan of GI Joe, and wanted him to be in the film.
• Spoiled by the Merchandise: The action figures for the film include The Doctor. Not bad, except that they give his full name: Rex "The Doctor" Lewis.
• Throw It In!: Ripcord's helmet flashing holographic pictures of Scarlett. Originally, he was meant to be responding to the amount a virtual controls showing up in the HUD, but when it got to actually including the display in the visual effects department, they thought it'd be more amusing if it had her face popping up.
• Typecasting: Joseph Gordon Levitt and Channing Tatum played soldiers in Stop-Loss too.
• Uncredited Role: Brendan Fraser has a cameo as Sgt Stone that he's uncredited for.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Chris Evans, Matthew Fox, Mark Wahlberg, Chris Hemsworth and Sam Worthington were considered for Duke.
  • Dwayne Johnson was rumored to appear in the film as Shipwreck. He would later appear as Roadblock in the sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation.
  • Brendan Fraser's character was meant to be the Joe soldier Gung-Ho, but since that was a character of Cajun origin (which Fraser definitely was not) it was renamed Sergeant Stone.
  • Gary Daniels and Scott Adkins auditioned for the role of Snake Eyes.
  • Olga Kurylenko was considered for the role of the Baroness.
  • Emma Roberts turned down the role of Scarlett.
  • Common was offered the role of Heavy Duty's cousin Roadblock, but screenwriter Stuart Beattie chose Heavy Duty instead.
  • Jared Padalecki turned down to play Duke due to filming Supernatural.
  • The original script had Snake Eyes taking a vow of silence until he got revenge on Storm Shadow. When Storm Shadow is seemingly killed in their final fight, Snake Eyes would sigh out "finally." Longtime Joe comic book writer Larry Hama warned the producers that the fans would loathe the entire movie just for that one moment and it was dropped. This becomes Hilarious in Hindsight when fans complain about him talking in his solo movie, despite being an Origin Story.
  • At one point, Alex Mann from the British Action Man toyline was going to feature in the film. In this draft, he's married to Scarlet, but she still has feelings for Duke and is killed by the Baroness. Cobra also doesn't feature either, and the villain would be a crooked CIA agent. This version was leaked online and changed after fan backlash.
• Word of Dante: Brendan Fraser has said he thinks of his character, Sgt. Stone, as the descendant of Rick O'Connell.

---