The Casting Cabana: G.I. Joe Week! (The Good Guys! Part-o de Uno)
March 10, 2008Darth Maul, A Frenchie, A Wayans Brother, and a former LOST Guy Who Also Looks Like Booker T get to kick some Cobra Ass!
As the first order of business in casting actors for the Joes, the film’s producers have tapped Wushu expert, Ray Park, to join the team. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the name, well we can’t really blame you. Most of his previous film work required the use of heavy makeup: He was Darth Maul in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace and played Toad in 2000’s X-Men. Another famous role didn’t even necessitate the use of his anatomy from the neck up (he was the Headless Horseman in Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow).
And this year, he’s set to don a pair of infamous masks for two major projects: One to play the title character in Marvel’s upcoming Iron Fist movie; and another for G.I. Joe as (prepare for some hyphen rape) the silent-because-he’s-actually-mute-so-don’t-be- insensitive-yet-uber-deadly Snake-Eyes.
Park’s other work include acting as punk club owner Brendan Mullen in the Darby Crash biopic What We Do Is Secret, cameo-ing in the geek comedy Fanboys, and playing (get ready to have your brains turn into shit) CHUCK NORRIS in a Chinese TV show based on the life of Bruce Lee, the trailer for which I’ve attached below. I implore you to watch the entire clip. Do it. Do it for the lulz. But if you’re not too keen on sparing a mere 6 minutes for some kickass kung-fu, Park is shown briefly at the 3:02 and 4:08 marks, and I think that that’s him getting his goofy ass awesomely juggled at the 4:55 mark.
