I was always a fan of Joe. I grew up with Joe. I had all the toys and I had epic adventures - they'd be burned, they'd be in mud, they'd be hidden in the couch. I loved them. I'm convinced I learned the beginning of my storytelling from playing with toys, no doubt. And it's hard for me to put down any filmmaker's work because I know how hard it is to make a movie, and I never want to do that; just to be able to get it done is an incredible feat in itself. But there's something about G.I. Joe that has history, that has a soul, and there's very few brands have a soul. Like the Boy Scouts has something to do with America, even Mickey Mouse, even Apple has a soul to it. And Joe has a soul. And I've never felt like I've had a movie of Joe of where I can taste my childhood right there.

So when I found out they were doing a second one, I [told Paramount] you've got to do this one the way we've always wanted to see - and they were like, what do you mean? And there's a reality to Joe, there's like a grittiness to Joe; when I would burn them and their arm would fall off, the story would revolve around the guy whose arm fell off. It was about how each figurine had their own special accessory that was a part of their identity. It wasn't just brushing them aside, like, oh this group of guys, let's go attack that thing, and they have a cool car! It was always that detail, that grittiness that I feel like if Joe had it in there, it would be a totally different movie and have a totally different feel. So I approached them about what that would be like, and they loved the idea. And they had a script that was close, and we're going now in and making it the way it should be. And the script they have is really good, actually, so we now want to build in a few more things that will make it even better.