Lorenzo di Bonaventura Speak Transformers 3, Jack Ryan, and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

August 1, 2009 by admin  
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Lorenzo di Bonaventura

Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend a premiere for the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

While I didn’t get to talk to any of the actors, except when I yelled a question at Channing Tatum, I did however get to talk to the two men I was most eager to interview, director Stephen Sommers and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. Lorenzo di Bonaventura is undoubtedly one of the most successful producers working today and I had the opportunity to talk to him about Transformers 3, Jack Ryan, Constantine, and what characters he would like to see appear in the inevitable G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra sequel.

Hey Lorenzo nice to meet you, you’ve produced a lot of good films.

Lorenzo: Hey man, thank you. How you doing?

Good, so how excited are you to have another another big hit on your hands with Transformers 2 and this?

Lorenzo: (laughs) Transformers has been a total ball, you know? Its been great how embraced we’ve been, but this isn’t a hit yet.

Its going to be.

Lorenzo: (laughs) I hope your right. You know for me its almost bad luck to presume it, so its like… I love to see the enthusiasm here and its really great.

Is Transformers 3 still planned for 2010?

Lorenzo: We don’t know the answer, but not 2010. We’ve never discussed that, its either 2011 or 2012.

Editor’s Note: The official date Paramount set was June, 2011. For some reason, I said 2010 instead which of course could never happen.

You’ve always seemed to be open about how unfair fans have been towards the film (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra), but during the past few days with the reviews glowing reviews coming in it seems like fans are now starting to embrace it. How’s that for you as a producer to see fans finally starting to embrace the film?

Lorenzo: Well its a relief, the drag about the internet is… Listen, I’m on it all the time and its an incredible resource because we get to interact with the fans. What’s a drag is that there seems to be a very vocal minority that presumes failure before they really can judge it. Thats the part for a filmmaker thats really hard, to hear a drumbeat of criticism and anyone feels that naturally. On the other hand there’s guys on the internet we exchange a lot of back and forth with, and we learn what the fans want from that. So if you come in with an open mind and an open heart we can interact with you in a great way.

Your currently adapting Red right now correct? Do you have a director lined up for that yet?

Lorenzo: We’re trying to, its moments away hopefully.

I’m a big fan of Hellblazer…

Lorenzo: Oh good.

I loved what you guys and Francis Lawrence did with the movie and is there any update on the sequel?

Lorenzo: We are trying to develop a story right now and its a very hard edged version of it.

The first one was pretty hard edged.

Lorenzo: Even more so, very R and very hard edged.

Keanu [Reeves] is still attached right?

Lorenzo: Absolutely, I wouldn’t make it without him.

I definitely wouldn’t want to see it without him.

Lorenzo: I would never consider it.

Are you still attached to the Jack Ryan reboot?

Lorenzo: Yes, we are working on that script right now.

Is [George] Clooney attached?

Lorenzo: No he’s not, nobody is attached.

Thats at Paramount right?

Lorenzo: Yes, thats at Paramount.

What else are you working on?

Lorenzo: A movie called Salt with Angeline Jolie.

Oh yeah, you guys were shooting that down here. How’d that shoot go?

Lorenzo: It was fantastic, we enjoyed it. Of course, when we were here we got the one giant snow storm that really screwed us up. Other then that, we had a really great time here.

Beverly Hills Cop Four, any update?

Lorenzo: Were still working on that script, its not ready yet.

Is Brett Ratner still attached?

Lorenzo: Yes.

If this does big, would you want to immediately do a sequel?

Lorenzo: Well, the fans have to vote first.

I think they are going to like it.

Lorenzo: I hope your right, we pray your right! (laughs) If these guys all come out in support of us then were going… the thing thats great about it is that they did like three hundred comic books and anime.

Yeah there’s great mythology there.

Lorenzo: Yeah, tons of mythology. Its easy to imagine many stories with it, but the fans have to say yes first.

Are there any characters you would want to bring in for a sequel?

Lorenzo: [Pause] Um, there’s a few characters, but I don’t want to speculate on it because we always get trapped by this. People will go, “why didn’t you put that in!” (laughs).

Lets say it this way, as a fan of G.I. Joe what characters would you like to see be brought to screen?

Lorenzo: (laughs) I think Flagg is somebody I want to see and Flint is somebody I want to see. There’s a few I would like to see.

Do you think we’ll see Cobra Commander get his signature mask in the next film?

Lorenzo: I think your going to get Cobra Commander, thats for sure.

How great was it being able to blow up the Eiffel tower and not make anyone angry?

Lorenzo: It was totally fun and we were worried that the French would be uptight about it, but they’ve completely embraced the fun we meant with it.

Its just a big cartoon come to life.

Lorenzo: Thats exactly right.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra opens up on August 7th, 2009