Dennis Quaid as General Hawk.

“G.I. Joe” star Dennis Quaid, who plays the role of General Hawk in the film, talks of how he prepared for the role which he says he is all too familiar with.

“I grew up with 'G.I. Joe' and it's basically kind of a cartoon thing. It's a big popcorn type of tent pole, action movie, which really isn't deep,” he said.

Quaid described General Hawk as a cross between Chuck Yeager, Sergeant Rock, and a bit of  Hugh Hefner. He isn’t going to be “faithful” in portraying the cartoon character by sporting a flat top, but he stuck to his usual short cut. 

“General Hawk ate the canvas, he has a Victoria Secret super model. How serious can it [the role] be?”
When asked how “G.I. Joe” ended up becoming an action film without too much blood, Quaid cited the film “Spider-Man.”

“Basically it's the same deal.”

Quaid worked out in the gym to buff up for the role. More importantly, or so he said, he got the G.I. Joe action figure.

“I've already been an action figure - I'll have another one,” he said.

Quaid described what the film version of “G.I. Joe” is about.

 “It's set a little bit in the future. The Joe's are these international Special Forces type of group. They mainly fight these terrorist groups that spring up.

“The movie is more like James Bond. The group is the Specter, there is this evil mastermind behind it, and I think it's going to be more like the old James Bonds. Like “Dr. No” where the mastermind has his own private island - and all these people are wearing magic cover-alls!”

“G. I. Joe” is now showing in theaters nationwide.