Fred Topel: "Did you know this from your own childhood or from your kids?"
Stuart Beattie (GI Joe:RoC writer): "No, because I grew up in Australia so I knew of G.I. Joe but I never played with any of the G.I. Joe action figures. My knowledge of the property came in 2000, nine years ago when I was originally approached by another set of producers, another whole incarnation to write the movie of
G.I. Joe. They sent me the whole bible and all the comics and all that kind of stuff. I just really got into it then. That thing, that iteration of the project obviously never came to fruition and I never really did anything with it but, the material I kept because I knew it was fun and interesting. So I had all that stuff on my shelf when I got the call from Lorenzo [di Bonaventura - Producer] in mid-September saying, "We need you to write a movie." So I pulled all that stuff off the shelf and I was right back into it."
Fred Topel: "Is it true you worked lines like "Kung Fu Grip" and "Sold Separately" into the script?"
Stuart Beattie: "I didn't get "sold separately" in although I should've. I did get "kung fu grip." "Lifelike hair" was the other one. "Lifelike hair" and "Kung fu grip," they're the famous taglines on the G.I. Joe products. You have to get them in. You have to get in "Knowing's half the battle" and there were certain things, like I say, to make it a G.I. Joe movie you've got to get them in. You've got to get certain characters in. you've got to get certain relationships in. You've got to get certain vehicles in. They're the kind of basic elements you need to really make it a G.I. Joe movie."
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