Director John Chu, whose success was cemented by the "Step Up" dancing franchise, took on a new challenge by working "G.I. Joe: Retaliation," the sequel to "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra." He recently participated in a conference call with college journalists across the country.
Chu’s prior endeavor, “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never,” is dramatically different from his current project. He admitted that while it was certainly a big leap, especially considering the change in size of the studios, he was endowed with action movie powerhouses.
“But of course, when you're working on your first action movie, it was really helpful to have (Lorenzo di Bonaventura) our producer, and you have Dwayne (Johnson) and Bruce (Willis), who are masters of action movies," he said."And also, I think because it was my first action movie, Paramount surrounded me with the best crew as sort of their own insurance."
Channing Tatum, who plays Captain Duke, was a familiar face from “Step Up 2.”
“Channing is the nicest and coolest dude you could ever meet," Chu said. "Literally, every girl fell in love with him on our set. He opens doors for all of them, knows their names, knows the whole crew's names before anyone else does and even other people who have been on the set for weeks."
Naturally, “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” has several of Chu’s personal touches. The sequel still contains ninjas, action sequences and many sorts of weapons, but there are notable changes. Chu attributed this to the notion that G.I. Joe’s tradition is to “reinvent itself every time it changes format.”
He described the first movie as “a little more sci-fi, a little more green-screen driven.” As a fan of G.I. Joe since childhood, Chu viewed the cinematic opportunity as a way to cultivate its original “grittiness” yet confirm that it is not exclusively a film for previous fans.
He said the film is a mix of conveying information to those new to the franchise as well as “building on information” for fans accustomed to the story.
Chu said that he respected Stephen Sommers, the director of “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” but felt that there were changes to be made.
“’We wanted to feel the power of the punch is what we kept saying," Chu said. "You want to feel the grittiness of the fights, and you want to feel that they are not cartoon characters, but that they are real human beings."
In the end, regardless of the genre of Chu’s films, some universal aspects remain integral to his form of storytelling.
"It's pretty simple storylines, but (the films) have a universal sort of heroic tale to them," Chu said. "And then there are always (the) underdogs. And to me, I love those types of stories.”
“G.I. Joe: Retaliation” is now in theaters.
Reach the reporter at lrogoff@asu.edu
