G.I. Joe Retaliation star Adrianne Palicki is ready for the world to see her kicking some butt. Originally set to be released last summer, the action-packed sequel to G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra is landing in theaters March 29. No stranger to films and TV shows getting shelved, Palicki admitted she was beginning to wonder when she heard that G.I. Joe 2 was going to share the same fate when it was pushed from summer 2012 to this Friday.
After the missteps (Wonder Woman -- she shot a pilot that never aired) and massive delays (Red Dawn) of her previous starring vehicles, Palicki knew G.I. Joe Retaliation was for real when she was watching a certain big game.
“During the Super Bowl, seeing the G.I. Joe Retaliation trailer was like the first moment where it was like, ‘Oh, this is actually happening,’” she admitted. “Because after Wonder Woman and then Red Dawn’s three year delay, I was waiting for that!”
Even though G.I. Joe was pushed back, the film’s star felt it was the right move. If nothing else, they would have had to fight against The Amazing Spider-Man and Batman’s final chapter, The Dark Knight Rises.
“Everything had been pushed but yes, the thing is this movie, in all honesty, it actually is coming out at the right period of time,” Palicki said. “It was forced before. Nine months from after we wrapped? That was crazy.”
Palicki stars in G.I. Joe Retaliation opposite the first movie’s star, Channing Tatum, but also new additions Dwayne Johnson and Bruce Willis. But it is her character Jaye's prospective romance with co-star DJ Cotrona’s Flint that has gotten much of the attention. In the G.I. Joe mythology, the pair ends up married. But Palicki cautioned that this was not the movie to have them get together.
“I think the studio really wanted a kiss in there. And they said no, it just feels forced in this world where we're saving the world,” Palicki said. ”We feel that in order for this moment to happen, it has to feel not forced. And they're just starting to get to know each other. The characters are introduced and then all of these people are just getting to know each other for the first time. I thought it was tastefully done.”
Having Willis join the G.I. Joe world was a bonus for Palicki as she has been a longtime fan. The actress shares most of the screen time with the action movie veteran.
“It was nerve-wracking because Bruce came into the process a little bit later so when we found out that he was coming and I was going to do a lot of scenes with him,” Palicki said, it made her nervous, given a certain iconic character Willis played and how it affected her as a teen.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is one of my first crushes ever with John McClane.’ But the minute I met him we immediately hit it off. It was banter back and forth. A lot of what you're seeing onscreen is what we were like off screen as well. I met a really good friend that way. There were only a couple of moments while we were shooting that he did the little squinty eyes and I was like, 'Oh my gosh. There's Die Hard! Hold this together!'"