The G.I. Joe news just keeps coming. Yesterday we found out who would be leading the heroes into battle, as well as an unusual addition to the villains’ side with a casting rumor for Zartan. Today IESB claims to have the skinny on another major casting piece: Destro.
Destro was usually a supporting player in the cartoon and comic books – a weapons dealer who helped service COBRA with the gear to take on the military might of G.I. Joe. The rumor is that he’s the big bad of the G.I. Joe picture, however, so the casting has to be just right.
A few weeks ago the rumored casting for the part was Dominic West, who would have been perfect in my mind. The man can pull off that malevolent, haughty type of character, as evidenced in 300 and 28 Days. Sadly, that was not to be, as West’s camp quickly dispelled the rumors.
Instead, it appears the role has gone to David Murray, an actor IESB describes as a cross between Alan Rickman and Clive Owen. Unfortunately, all that appears to be on the actor’s resume are small roles like “jumpy thug” in Batman Begins and “Merlin’s lieutenant” in King Arthur. Sorry – those aren’t roles that scream Alan Rickman and Clive Owen mixed together. And that’s assuming I’m looking up the right David Murray, since there are several listed at IMDb (although the picture matches the one shown by IESB).
The more casting information we get, the less impressed I am with the idea of G.I. Joe as a picture. It really sounds like they’re trying to cram too much into one picture instead of focusing on a few, really well developed characters. Transformers was able to transcend its cartoon origins, but I’m not confident G.I. Joe will be able to do the same. I guess Destro will be the true test – will they just have the character as an arrogant arms dealer, or will they try to stick in the steel helmet as well? If it’s the latter, count me out now. As much as I liked the cartoon, I have no interest in seeing it brought to life with such precision. Make this its own thing, true enough to the original to please fans, but not so faithful that it boarders on goofy.
