Update: ‘G.I. Joe’ Producer Says Rumor Of Stephen Sommers’ “Firing” Totally False

Update 2, 5:04 p.m: Latino Review, the guys who ostensibly “broke,” or found the DonMurphy message boards story are now reporting that the rumor is false as they have talked to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura who says, “It’s very unfair to Steve, it’s completely untrue he was never asked to leave or been fired or any of that. That’s ridiculous. The movie tested very well.”

To which Latino Review’s response is conveniently, “I hear it tested as good as the first ‘Transformers.’ ” Jesus, you sure as shit didn’t see that in their original report. They also still have their original headline in the piece which was “Sommers Fired From G.I. Joe. Half The Battle Has Been Salvaging The Project.” There’s not even a question mark there suggesting it’s a rumor. It’s suggesting fact, not could this have happened? Now we’re ones to talk cause we reported on this rumor as well, but pretty fucking convenient revisionism there, guys. They even write in their first version “I’ve heard through various sources that this story is true.” Guess those sources weren’t so good when you actually got the real one. Bleh.

Update 1, 3:45 p.m.: Movieline are reporting that the rumors of Stephen Sommers’ death “firing” have been greatly exaggerated.

According to our sources, though, Sommers is not off the picture. Test screenings on G.I. Joe happened months ago and though the studio was dissatisfied, one source doubts that the film could have reached the NRG depths of past Paramount product like Marci X and Timeline.

Yes, we’re hearing that there has been tension between Sommers and the studio, and the film is being recut to better response, but Sommers is still present and most of the bad blood has been resolved.

Damage control or the real deal?

Previously On Lost: Hack Director Fired From Terrible-Looking Summer Blockbuster?
Rumor of the week: Was zero-times Oscar nominated hack Stephen Sommers fired from the upcoming, what looks like a total mess, tentpole, “G.I Joe: The Rise of Cobra”? Sommers was allegedly also and locked out of the editing midway through post-production by a Paramount exec. We were hoping this means the film would never come out to assault our eyeballs, but perhaps it’s just further reason why it looks godawful. Even the geek constituents seem to agree. Is this another huge, expensive bomb in the making? We must admit we giggle when lowest common denominator splashes tend to fail loudly. [Firstshowing]

Update: Jeffrey Wells has a great update here which makes this story sound like more than just a rumor and a legit story (though to be fair, we just realized it’s the same info that FS has).

“Hasbro CEO Brian Goldner, who turned down other offers from the property to go with the script that was rushed out in eight weeks by Stuart Beattie (i.e., because of the writer’s strike), is frantic that the Sommers-created debacle will destroy the brand and is now distancing himself from the pending catastophe.

Wells’ “update” we guess is that he’s hearing there’s truth to the story and dude has fairly good sources.