There are certain actors for whom any attempt to follow the logic or reason in their career choices can only end in failure. What drives Al Pacino to follow playing himself in Adam Sandler comedy “Jack & Jill” with a Phil Spector biopic? How does Samuel L. Jackson film both Cormac McCarthy adaptation “The Sunset Limited” and direct-to-video actioner “Arena” in the same year? At least Nicolas Cage owes the government millions in taxes, but some of these elder statesman seem to delight in veering between the sublime and the ridiculous, and one of the greatest offenders is Bruce Willis.
He’s best known for his action roles, obviously, but Willis can be a great actor when he wants to be, and has worked with some of the finest directors around, most notably Quentin Tarantino and Terry Gilliam. The actor has a whopping nine films set to be released in the next 12 months, and some of them are very promising, including collaborations with Rian Johnson, Stephen Frears and Wes Anderson. But they line up alongside not one, but two action sequels — “Die Hard 5” and “The Expendables 2” — two movies with 50 Cent, the unpromising indie “Catch 44” and the Henry Cavill vehicle “The Cold Light of Day.” And now it seems, one more, as Heat Vision now confirms that Willis is in the final stages of talks to join the cast of Paramount‘s tentpole sequel, “G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation“
As reported a month or so back, Willis would play General Joe Colton, the leader of the elite military unit and the original ‘G.I. Joe’ of the title, who leads a team headed by the returning Channing Tatum and Ray Park along with new recruits Dwayne Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, Joseph Mazzello, Elodie Yung, RZA and D.J. Cotrona, who’ll face off against Ray Stevenson‘s evil Firefly. Let’s see if Willis can manage to look as bored and sleepy as Dennis Quaid did in the equivalent role in the first film. Most of the original film’s actors, including Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Christopher Eccleston and Marlon Wayans have better things to do. When Marlon Wayans has better things to do, you know you’re in trouble.
“Step Up 3D” and “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” director Jon M. Chu is directing from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the writers of “Zombieland,” and the film’s now been given the prime Paramount summer slot after “Star Trek 2” was delayed, so it’ll hit theaters on July 29th, 2012.
