EXCLUSIVE: Is Stephen Sommers Still On G.I. Joe?
Rumors are flying today that G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra director Stephen Sommers has been fired off the film and locked out of the editing room following “the lowest test score ever from an audience in the history of Paramount.” How much is fact and how much is fiction? We decided to get to the bottom of things. First, here’s the original rumor, posted by an anonymous commenter at the message board of producer Don Murphy (Transformers): After a test screening [of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra] in which the film got the lowest test score ever from an audience in the history of Paramount, the executive who pushed for the movie — Brad Weston — had Stephen Sommers, the superhack director of the film, fired. Removed. Locked out of the editing room. Stuart Baird, a renowned fixer editor, was brought it to try to see if G.I. Joe could be made releasable. Meanwhile producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, whose turkey Imagine That (also championed by Weston) explodes this weekend as the new bomb in theatres, was told his services were no longer needed on the film either.