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Jon M. Chu Gives Update on His Upcoming 'Masters of the Universe'

by Ben Pearson
October 17, 2012
Source: CeleBuzz

Paramount has had a rough year, but nothing shook up movie insiders quite as much as their last minute delay of G.I. Joe: Retaliation. About a month before release, the studio pulled the film (after spending untold millions on Super Bowl TV spots and other advertising) and kicked it to March 29th, 2013 to post-convert it to 3D. (Although you can read the rumors about the real truth behind the delay here.) While director Jon M. Chu oversees that conversion, he's also looking ahead to his upcoming gig directing a reboot of Masters of the Universe, and he spoke with Celebuzz about his take on the material. More below!

Here's what Chu had to say to Celebuzz:

"I was approached about doing a Masters of the Universe movie and while at first I was skeptical. I read the script and I was blown away. I had no idea what to expect but it was such a fresh, UNEXPECTED approach I was immediately intrigued. I never expected to connect on a human level to a MOTU movie but I really plugged in emotionally. That alone, got me excited to see what we could do with the property. MOTU is such a challenging puzzle to make into a movie that works to a contemporary audience but the script seemed to really crack it for me. I think people are really going to be surprised at the rich story we have the opportunity to tell in this world. Where you think MOTU goes left, the script goes right and it was just very clear to me this was something very special."

This is all early talk of course, but Chu is clearly pleased with the work of screenwriter Richard Wenk (The Expendables 2) and what he's been able to do with the story so far. But how is the story of He-Man to modern audiences?

"I feel like there’s a lot of room to crack open the Masters of the Universe story. We are still in our process and I think we have some great seeds planted but making one of these types of movies RIGHT takes a lot of TONAL tightroping so we’re just going to play for the next several months. Play with designs, play with the characters, try new things, maybe go too far on some things and pull back. The process is really important to find where the right line is so we can land right on it. I think that’s what can dig out the [property's] full potential for a cinematic rebirth."

So that's the future, but what about the past? Don't forget, there was already one Masters of the Universe movie back in 1987 starring Dolph Lundgren and Courteney Cox, so how will Chu move forward in relation to what that movie did?

"I don’t really think about the 80s movie when looking at this movie because the script here is so strong and so unique. I think the characters are so grounded and layered I never expected that in a Masters movie so to me it’s on a totally different level. Don’t get me wrong, I love the 80s movie for full nostalgic reasons but this script feels like it’s a totally different genre than that one."

Well, he's certainly saying all the right things that fans want to hear. But this project has had a hell of a path to the big screen already (remember Justin Marks' attempt to tell this story back in 2008?), so we'll have to patiently wait until Chu is finished with G.I. Joe: Retaliation before we hear any more legitimate updates about Masters of the Universe. Excited?

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