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From a giant underwater secret base in the Arctic, to the bridge of the Joe's secret attack submarine and all the way to the desert of the Sahara, the IESB is on the set of Stephen Sommers' live action G.I. JOE film!
{sidebar id=1}There's no denying I'm a child of the 80's. Growing up, my toys consisted of Star Wars, He-Man, Transformers, Voltron and, of course, G.I. JOEok and a couple Smurfs but that's besides the point! So this is a very exciting time for our generation as our childhood heroes are being brought to the big screen in a very big way!
We've covered the live action JOE film closely, from early development and casting and now into production.
I've read most of the G.I. JOE screenplays from the last two years and held out hope that one day the studio would get it right. The script that was finally green lit by the studio was of course Stuart Beattie's take on "the Real American Heroes" and cameras have been rolling for the last 50 days.
From day one, we have been patiently waiting to be officially invited to set and finally last week we got the go ahead for May 5th.
The amount of outlets invited to the set, located at Downey Studios, was surprisingly small. There were 6 outlets in attendance. This made our visit a bit more personal compared to the usual 12-20 outlets that normally attend such events.
Downey Studios is located approximately 40 miles from my home and I was to be there by 10:00am. To make sure I would get there on time, regardless how bad traffic might be, I left at 8:00am. My luck there was no traffic (Woo-hoo for Cinco de Mayo!) and I was able to get there in 45 minutes!
Quick info on Downey Studios, before it's most recent incarnation of a "film studio" -- Since1929, this property was involved in the construction of vehicles of flight including small bi-planes during the 30's, construction of military aircraft during WWII, missile weapon programs and under NASA they used the location to construct different vehicles for the Apollo Space Program and the building of the Space Shuttles Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavor. So now you know
So besides being excited that I would be checking out the filming of G.I. JOE, I was amazed thinking about the history of this location.
Come 10:00am, we were allowed inside the studio and escorted to Sound Stage 1. Our schedule for the day would be to watch a scene that was being shot involving Sienna Miller "The Baroness" and Channing Tatum "Duke."
We would also tours various sets including McCullen's (Destro) M.A.R.S Arctic Headquarters.
 The M.A.R.S. sets consisted of the Submarine Docking area, The Doctors Laboratory, The Diving Bell Room, Entry Way to the Diving Bell, McCullen's (Destro) Submarine, the Control Room to the M.A.R.S Secret Arctic Headquarters and a giant ice cave that leads to the super secret M.A.R.S Arctic Base. Another set that we visited was part of the M.A.R.S. Weapon factory located in an ex-Soviet state (the legitimate part of Destro's operations).
Besides the "baddies" sets, we also were able to see a few of the JOE's sets that included a Joe Submarine yet to be named, a small two man submarine called a "SHARC" (Submersible High-speed Attack and Reconnaissance Craft), the cargo area of a troop transport and the remains of the Urban Combat Level of The Pit.
Our tour was conducted by none other than mega-producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and we spoke with cast members Sienna Miller, Channing Tatum and to our good buddy Ray Park "Snake Eyes."
Due to the embargo we have been given, our interviews with Lorenzo, Sienna, Channing and Ray and overall set visit piece will be released sometime in the future but for now I leave our readers with a few tidbits.
Overall, Stephen Sommers appears to running a tight ship. Sienna Miller is smoking hot, these sets are huge, there were plenty of explosions, plenty of water and we saw Vipers and Neo-Vipers.
And finally, Brendan Fraser does not play Gung-Ho or any other Joe that has been rumored thus far and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will not be in the film.
The production of G.I JOE wraps today in Los Angeles and the full production team is headed to Prague for the next five weeks.
Stay tuned to the IESB as we continue to bring Joe fans everywhere the latest news from G.I JOE Headquarters! YO JOE!
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