Henry Golding has entered talks to play Snake Eyes in the upcoming G.I. Joe live-action movie spinoff about the character. Despite having had (at best) mixed success with their first two attempts to adapt the G.I. Joe toyline for the big screen, Paramount and Hasbro are teaming up against for a new slate of films based on the IP. Up first will be Snake Eyes, a project centered around the ninja commando who was previously portrayed by Ray Park in the movies G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra and Retaliation.
Written by Evan Spiliotopoulos (Hercules 2014, The Huntsman: Winter’s War), Snake Eyes reportedly follows the title character as he seeks revenge for his father’s death and joins a ninja clan. The project is being directed by Robert Schwentke (RED, The Divergent Series: Insurgent) and is gearing up to begin production this fall, in order to make its currently-scheduled October 16, 2020 release date. Now, it appears the movie has found its star.
THR is reporting Golding has entered talks to star in the Snake Eyes movie. The film will be a joint production between Paramount and Skydance.
Golding broke-out last year with his performance as the very charming (and equally wealthy) Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians, and he showed up shortly thereafter in Paul Feig’s noir comedy A Simple Favor. He will reunite with Feig again this November for the rom-com Last Christmas opposite Emilia Clarke. With his acting chops and leading man stature, many had predicted it was only a matter of time before Golding signed on for a potential franchise starter like Snake Eyes. He’s similarly been tapped as a fan-pick to play Namor when the superhero inevitably joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe. No doubt, Golding will both reveal his face and speak in the G.I. Joe spinoff, even though Snake Eyes is known for doing neither of those things.
Paramount’s reported end goal is to launch an entire cinematic universe of Hasbro movies, with the potential for cross-overs between the biggest sub-franchises (like G.I. Joe and Transformers). In addition to Snake Eyes, they are actively developing a Micronauts film and Dungeons & Dragons reboot for release in 2021, and have another Transformers sequel in the pipeline (just not a direct continuation of 2017’s The Last Knight). Other studios have tried and failed to launch movie universes in the wake of the MCU, but there have been some success stories so far. Paramount could really use another hit franchise (Mission: Impossible is their only reliable cash cow right now), so it’ll be interesting to see how Snake Eyes’ performance impacts those plans.
Source: THR
