‘Snake Eyes’ Team Had ‘Questions’ Over Henry Golding Casting Because of Rom-Com Roles

The “G.I. Joe” team raised some “questions” about the decision to cast Henry Golding as Snake Eyes due to his romantic comedy (rom-com) past, a producer in the upcoming origins movie revealed.

Movie genre past: Lorenzo di Bonaventura made the revelation in an interview with Empire on Tuesday, a day after Paramount released the final trailer for “Snake Eyes,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Di Bonaventura said the studio came up with the idea to film an origin story for “Snake Eyes,” with the producer describing the character as one of the franchise’s “most popular characters” and a “great enigma.”
“We embraced it immediately but also had questions about it because I think the action audience can be very critical of people coming into it, especially people who’ve been established in a romantic comedy or lighter vein of movies,” he said.
Golding mostly appeared in dramas, comedies and rom-coms, such as “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Monsoon,” “Last Christmas,” and “The Gentlemen,” Republic World reported.
To get past this, di Bonaventura said the team had to “wipe the audience’s memory clean of the romantic comedy Henry Golding” by opening the trailer with the actor “in a cage fight with a big guy.”
“In that scene, you see he’s got blood on his face, a huge guy waging a real war with him, and you immediately go, ‘Oh, this guy’s got what it takes,’” he added.

Sneak peek: Di Bonaventura teased “Snake Eyes” will have “90-95%” practical stunts and fight scenes. Having the majority of stunts and fight scenes performed by actors would make the film “much better,” he explained, citing his past work in “The Matrix” as an example.

“We won’t put the cast at risk, but we pushed to do what we could practically,” he said.
The producer said the Malaysian English actor “put the work in” for his role as the silent but deadly “G.I. Joe” member.

“Snake Eyes” is set to release in theaters on July 23.

Featured Image via Warner Bros. Pictures (left), Paramount Pictures (right)

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