Hasbro is building their G.I. Joe universe from the ground up, and it all starts with Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins. The film reveals how the fan-favorite soldier Snake Eyes came to be, and how he fits within the overall Joe universe, but it aims to make the ninja a fully developed character, and that was part of what attracted star Henry Golding to the project. We really see just how traumatic Snake Eyes’ life was leading up to embracing the role. weal know and love, as well as how he processes it all and comes out the other side. Golding is a new father, and in a conversation with ComicBook.com, revealed that fatherhood has had an impact on how he views the character and the G.I. Joe franchise.
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“I think it definitely, in retrospect, it definitely does affect. Because we see right at the beginning of this origin story who Snake Eyes is as a man and kind of the crazy stuff that he had to go through personally, but still pick himself up and have this goal of vengeance that’s burned into him. How can a man like that turn things around? There has to be a good enough cause and an open enough arms to have someone like that change his kind of train of thought and that’s found in the Arashikage, and that place gives him the purpose that I think he’s been sort of yearning for and needing,” Golding said. “And so, to sort of imagine any kid to go through kind of what he did as a kid, of course it’s going to sort of scar him for the rest of life, but I think it was really important to have that layered in throughout the movie because we didn’t want it just to be one dimensional. Not just like a beat them up, action. We needed to have the cause and effect of everything.”
While there was quite a bit of secrecy around the film, Golding knew who he was auditioning for when casting came around, and also knew the importance of getting this one right from the get-go.
“Luckily, yes. I knew exactly what it is and I received the call from Paramount that they were exploring casting and they wanted to sort of gauge my interest, and it was something that I was like, ‘Wow, this is a crazy expedition in rebooting a franchise like this.’ It has to be done right. So my first question was like, I’d love to meet with Robert. I want to hear his vision. I want to understand where he wants to take this. And so we went for a coffee, he laid it all out and he was like, ‘Look, I don’t want to make a generic film that anybody can sort of just watch and be like, Oh yeah, the action was great.’ We wanted to make the character the leading draw to this, the endearment of the audience members to Snake Eyes, to his mission, and for them to be like, ‘Oh man, this guy’s a bit of an asshole in the beginning,” but it takes you to understand that, to see how far he develops and what he sacrifices to become the bigger and better version of who he is.
Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins is in theaters now.
