Director Jon M. Chu on Working with Justin Bieber & Bruce Willis
- Details
- Category: Interviews
- Created: Friday, 05 April 2013 12:08
- Published: Friday, 05 April 2013 12:08
- Written by Lupe Haas
The director of two Step Up movies and Justin Bieber's Never Say Never may not have been the most likely recruit to direct an all-out action film like G.I. JOE RETALIATION, but Jon M. Chu says action films are much more than just directing stunts and explosions which he learned from working with Justin Bieber.
The task of rebooting the G.I. Joe franchise was given to director Jon M. Chu. The original cast (except for Channing Tatum) was replaced with Dwayne Johnson as the lead Joe with help from D.J. Catrona and Adrianne Palicki, and a cameo by the resident tough guy, Bruce Willis. The Palo Alto, Ca native and USC School of Cinema-Television alumni broke into Hollywood directing Step Up 2: The Streets (2008) and Step Up 3D (2010). He then went on to helm Justin Bieber's documentary Never Say Never in 2011.
Transitioning into a blockbuster franchise may have been daunting for the G.I. JOE RETALIATION director, but Chu was up for the challenge. In a one-on-on sit down with the filmmaker, Chu says working for the first time with huge names like Johnson and Willis was a thril,l and "you just try to keep up" with their talents. Chu got a taste of working with high-profile stars when he worked with Justin Bieber on the documentary Never Say Never. He describes the teen sensation as "great" and he loves what he does. So rather than tell him how to act in front of the cameras, "as a filmmaker you go with it and not against it, and than enhance it."
Chu applied that knowledge when directing Bruce Willis in G.I. JOE RETALIATION. Willis is known for his dead pan humor, so Chu concentrated on capturing those moments with a stable camera rather than shooting "big, crazy heroic moves." The result, he says, was an "extraordinary" performance by Willis as an average Joe.
G.I. JOE RETALIATION is now playing.