Channing Tatum is one of Hollywood’s in-demand young actors and stars in Paramount Pictures’ G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra as Duke, code name for First Sergeant Conrad. S. Hauser. Although Duke wasn’t in a number of the comic books, nor an original toy, he’s considered one of the favorite characters and is highly-regarded by loyal fans.
British beauty and fashionista Sienna Miller co-stars with Tatum as Baroness, the sensual and stunning femme fatale who serves as the lieutenant to Cobra Commander, the enemy.
While on-set, ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! watched the two fight their way to safety as the M.A.R.S. docking bay was being attacked.
Although Baroness is one of the bad guys, Duke carries her out of harm’s way and while he’s running through the door, water begins to shoot from the ground inside because the building is damaged from the attack.
He sets her down as soon as they’re out of the docking bay and he immediately starts shooting at Vipers who are with the enemy he just saved.
Dressed in tight black leather pants, a rather fitting low cut top which accentuates her cleavage, long black gloves, boots and a gun holster around her leg, Miller looks hot and embraces the appearance of Baroness effortlessly. She dons a long black wig and is drenched from the scene, yet she doesn’t seem to mind and is ready to do another take.
This time as the two come running out of the docking station, two explosions go off as water is being shot from a water canon soaking the stars as they try to nail the scene.
The temperature from the explosions was so intense we could feel the heat blasting from the monitors where we were watching from a few feet away. It was one of the coolest things we’ve seen on a set visit.
As we were waiting to watch another take, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained exactly who the Vipers are.
“We have these characters called the Vipers and the Neo Vipers just depending on how far advanced they are. They’re really menacing looking guys… These are the henchmen. It’s the foot soldiers.”
The Vipers are introduced in the film about a third of the way through and while they are an enemy, Bonaventura divulges what they are expected to do.
“One of the experimentations that they’re doing in this movie is on this human experimentation and can they make you not have no fear, have no hesitation of orders, increased endurance and things like that. One of the things that The Doctor character in this movie is [doing is] he’s experimenting on these Vipers and Neo Vipers too see how invulnerable you can make them.”
But whether or not they willingly agree to the experiment is unclear.
“They’re soldiers. Are they volunteers? I guess they’re volunteers. They joined the bad guy side so I guess anything goes now.”
There will be four to five scenes shot in M.A.R.S. headquarters which the docking area is part of and Cobra doesn’t exist yet. Bonaventura said “It’s the rise of Cobra.”
During a short lunch break, Channing Tatum stopped by to talk to us about his experience so far on the movie.
Q: What’s it like playing Duke?
Channing Tatum: Oh man. I don’t know who to explain it. It’s one of those things where you don’t really realize it until you look over and Snake Eyes is standing next to you.
Q: You and Ray Park are actually friends right?
Tatum: Yeah we’re really close. He just came over to the house and he’s going to bring the kids. He’s one of the better guys that I’ve ever met in my life.
Q: What’s your take on your character?
Tatum: He’s a comic book character for one so he’s a little bit larger than life. He’s a normal guy and he’s just trying to figure it out and take care of his own. He’s trying to take care of his best friend Marlon [Wayans], he’s playing Ripcord. Me and Marlon have gotten really close too so it’s not that hard. I’ve got to take care of him and he’s older than I am so he’s like a big kid. He’s just a guy who gets it done and make sure that everyone is safe.
Q: What’s the relationship like between Duke and Ripcord?
Tatum: It’s actually less about us bickering back and forth. He’s just sort of a clown all the time. I’m always kind of like, “Rip come on. Figure it out.” And he’s always kind of messing with me. If I’m saving his life he’s complaining about how I’m saving his life. We’re not really bickering back and forth. He was pinned by a car one time and he’s like, “Can you be pinned next time?” He just complains constantly. That’s kind of Marlon as well.
Q: I believe it’s through your character that we get introduced to the Joe universe so what’s that like for you?
Tatum: It’s ridiculous. I’ve never imagined anything like this before in my life. I’ve only been on movies that last four or five weeks. This is almost like doing three movies in one. You don’t get to see where you’re actually at. You’re doing it on blue screens so I don’t really know how to explain. You just show up everyday and you don’t realize how big this thing is until you see the end product so I’m kind of not really living in that reality yet.
Q: How do you like doing all of the action?
Tatum: I think the girls get to do more action on this one than I do. I was very upset. They get this big fight with each other and I don’t get to do any of that. I get beat up a lot throughout the entire movie. I get my butt kicked.
Q: Tell us a little about the scene that we’ve been watching you shoot?
Tatum: We’re breaking out and I’m having to carry her through water. I had to drop her accidentally yesterday. Okay I didn’t have to. The one thing they told me not to do was drop her. They’re like, “Whatever you do, don’t drop her.” “No problem. I got it.” Boom! I just Supermanned it. I just rolled her out. She said she wasn’t hurt, but she’s a pretty tough girl. So we’re escaping from this sort of underwater lair.
Q: She’s one of the bad guys, so let’s be honest here. You’re saving her because she’s hot right?
Tatum: Pretty much. For the most part hot and I have to because it’s in the script. I have a girlfriend so I’m not going to say any of that out loud, but she’s really hot.
Q: You have a scar on your face. How do you get that?
Tatum: It’s a personal scar for Duke in general. He always had the scar in the cartoon and I’m not sure how much people know about the cartoon now, but we’ve sort of adapted it for our own use. Sienna’s little brother dies. I don’t know if I’m giving away too much so I’m going to be vague. But, Sienna’s little brother dies, Rex. This is me when I’m trying to run into the building to save him. I actually send him in the building to do a mission and then the mission goes horribly awful and they call in an air strike way too early. He’s in there so I run in and there’s an explosion in my face and this is what I get.
Q: So this is in the early days of G.I. Joe?
Tatum: Yes, this is before the Baroness or Duke becomes the Duke that we all know. This is back when he first started in the military.
Q: So does she go to the dark side because of his death?
Tatum: Yeah. I won’t say how, but it’s not really voluntarily. She sort of ends up there and that’s what is really shocking to me. When I meet her for the first time I almost don’t recognize her, but it’s one of those reveals that it’s her.
Q: Are we going to see power suits in the film?
Tatum: Yes. You will see an accelerated suit. They call it accelerated suits. There’s that and liquid armor and a lot of other really cool stuff.
Q: Do you get to say “Yo Joe?”
Tatum: I actually do not get to say “Yo Joe” in this because up until the very end, I’m not really in the Joes yet. So this is a genesis story. I actually don’t get a lot of the coin phrases that are going to be dropped here and there. I’ll get them in the second one, but there’s a lot of them that are hilarious.
Q: What’s been the favorite thing you’ve filmed so far?
Tatum: We have an opening battle scene where everyone gets introduced in their characters and there’s flashbacks and stuff, but it’s really the beginning of the movie where the action starts. I got to run on this hill where tracers are going past my head and people are being blown up, things are getting blown up, I get blown up. It’s fun. In real life I would have been in a million pieces, but in “G.I. Joe,” I get flown through the air somehow and roll, I land and I keep running.
Q: Is the live action what you envisioned it to be?
Tatum: A lot of it, absolutely. Then a lot of it again is blue screen and it’s bigger than what any of us can imagine and they’re going to realize that later. It’s going to be a gift when we get it at the end when we all get to watch it. We get to see each other in person and we know the characters, but we don’t get to see some of the scenes. We get to be on these cool sets like on this really wicked submarine under water base type thing, but you don’t know what’s outside of it. We’re out in a studio in Downey which kind of takes the magic away, but when you get to see it you’ll hopefully forget about that. That’s what I’m looking forward to.
Q: Where is your dance sequence going to be in the film?
Tatum: (laughing) We’ll be teaching Snake Eyes how to robot.
The adorable Sienna Miller, who was still dripping wet, laughed about how she wanted to shake our hand, but didn’t want to get us damp, briefly talked to us in between takes.
Q: How familiar were you with G.I. Joe and the comic books?
Sienna Miller: I was not. I thought G.I. Joe was one guy called Joe. I had no idea. I was not a comic book type of girl. I had seen the cartoon I think when I was younger, but it was all very hazy. I didn’t know who Baroness was, but I just loved the script. I loved the idea of doing something so different and so big. It’s a lot of fun. The costume is pretty fantastic.
Q: Did you go back and do research on G.I. Joe?
Miller: Yeah, I watched the cartoons and read the comic books.
Q: What accent will you have in the movie?
Miller: I’m doing an American accent.
Q: Will you be wearing glasses?
Miller: I’m wearing glasses, yes. She has different glasses, but they are these ones that are quite Harry Potter.
Q: You’re doing most of your own stunts I understand.
Miller: I am going a lot of them. I am. That’s kind of the fun. I know what I signed up for and that was partly it.
Q: Did you have to go through extensive training?
Miller: We did do a lot of stunt training and also rehearsed a lot of the fights that we do. But inevitably things go wrong. I’ve slipped on a few rubber bullets and all of that, but it’s really fun.
Q: Baroness is a bad guy and Duke’s a good guy, so why is he saving you?
Miller: Well there’s a little bit of history between Baroness and Duke. I don’t know what I’m allowed to say because they’ve got me by a noose on this one, but you know there’s a little bit of a love / hate going on. There’s chemistry between Baroness and Duke. She has a lot of access to some of the information he might need being the baddie.
Q: Give us your take on the character.
Miller: She’s just a great villain. She’s a very complex, very confused, very damaged woman who is quite vengeful. She’s pretty tough and I know I don’t look it.
Q: I’m sure you can kick some ass.
Miller: I do kick some ass, yeah.
Q: Does she have a thing for Destro as well?
Miller: Oh yeah. Yes, there’s a little Destro thing going on. And she’s married so she’s a confused woman.
Q: What’s it like to see yourself with darker hair?
Miller: It’s fun. That’s kind of one of the most fun things is dressing up. I also wear green contact lenses so it’s a pretty big transformation. These are normally not there (referring to her cleavage) so they’ve done a great job in that department.
Q: How long does it take to get in full costume?
Miller: We’ve got it down. Initially it was 15 minutes. This one is actually much looser than a lot of them, but we’re down to about seven now.
Q: Are all of your outfits all black?
Miller: Yes. I think there might be a coat that isn’t, but pretty much all black.
Q: A few months ago paparazzi got pictures of you at a cemetery. Can you tell us about that?
Miller: Oh yeah, that will be a flashback. That was a flashback scene from when I wasn’t a baddie.
Q: Who has prepared the most for their role in this movie?
Miller: Not me obviously. Please try to get the sarcasm down in print because sometimes it does not translate. I don’t know. We’re rushing a lot. The [WGA] strike was happening and there wasn’t as much time to prepare as I think there normally is, but I think we all gave a lot to it.
Q: Do you get to use weapons a lot?
Miller: Yeah, I do. I do physically fighting a lot. She’s a mean kicker.
Q: What do you think is going to be the biggest draw for women to this movie?
Miller: Channing Tatum. I think it appeals to everyone and I think in the casting they have a lot of the genres covered. It’s great that there’s a romance to it, there’s a lot of action, it’s very fast-paced, it’s very fascinating and it’s a real adventure. I think everybody likes seeing movies like that.
Q: You’re being such a trooper by wearing this costume and being doused with water. Why not have a stunt person do this scene?
Miller: Because this is the whole fun. I think I wouldn’t want to watch any part of the film and think, “Oh that looks great” and then it wasn’t me. I mean I’d probably lie about it and say it was. This is the whole point and I don’t mind getting soaked and grubby and wet. I don’t think you sign up for something like this to have someone else do all the fun of it. I love throwing myself around.
CONTINUE TO PART 3 OF THE SET VISIT >>
Source: Heather Newgen
