Danny McBride is going commando.
The star and creator of HBO’s The Righteous Gemstones is attached to direct an untitled G.I. Joe feature for Paramount Pictures.
The move is really just a change of ranks for McBride as he also wrote the screenplay for the action project that is based on the Hasbro toy line. It would, however, mark his feature directorial debut, a notable step up after helming several episodes of Gemstones.
A Joe feature is one of the big priorities at the studio, which, under new owner David Ellison, has been ramping up development of major IP and brands such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Star Trek. Some of those titles are moving on multiple development tracks, including Joe, which earlier this year had a second script being developed by Max Landis. That one did not move ahead.
Plot details for McBride’s version are being kept under the Chaplain’s Assistant School’s motor pool in Fort Wadsworth.
Joe is the popular action figure line launched in mid-1960s as a realistic soldier toy but was relaunched into its modern incarnation in the 1980s. Capturing the decade’s macho and patriotic zeitgeist, it was appropriately named G. I. Joe: A Real American Hero.
This version not only introduced a commando strike force featuring soldiers with monikers such as Duke, Roadblock and Snake Eyes, but also its over-the-top, hi-tech adversary, the terrorist organization known as Cobra with key bad guys including Cobra Commander, Baroness, Destro and Zartan
Paramount has made three G.I. Joe movies — 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and 2013’s G.I Joe: Retaliation, plus a Snake Eyes spinoff in 2021. The studio has been trying to find a way to reboot the franchise ever since.
Although known for his acting work and voice work in movies such as Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and The Mitchells vs. The Machines, McBride has proven to be a creative force in TV, where he has squeezed pathos and comedy out of sometimes dark situations, whether it’s a jerk baseball player in Eastbound & Down or scheming school employees in Vice Principals, both of which he co-created for HBO.
Gemstones showcased his ability to weave disparate elements such as comedy, drama, and crime into well-regarded and well-made whole.
McBride is repped by Range Media and Hansen Jacobson.
