AceShowbiz -

Moving the project into the next stage of development, Paramount Pictures has delightfully started the casting process for "G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra", which it now refers as "Untitled Stephen Sommers Project", Superhero Hype! has claimed.

The site further informs production will start in mid-February next year in Prague and Los Angeles. To meet the schedule, this could only mean that scribe Stuart Beattie has to quicken his pace in finishing his script revisions before the intended Writers Guild of America's strike at the end of this month.

Based on Hasbro's line of action figures, "Joe" has already got "The Mummy" helmer Stephen Sommers on board to direct and Lorenzo di Bonaventura as the producer. Pic is said to feature an international task force based in New York called G.I.J.O.E and includes Destro and the Baroness as the main villains with Cobra Commander in a "puppet master" role.