Channing Tatum Was Forced to Be G.I. Joe: 'I F--king Hate That Movie'
Well, they say knowing is half the battle -- and now you know the truth: Channing Tatum f--king hated "G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra." He never wanted to be G.I. Joe. He's embarrassed to have been a part of it. He only did the blockbuster because the studio would've sued him if he said no. So what you really need to know is not to sign long-term contracts unless you're ready to sell out your dignity.
The topic came up when Channing was promoting "Magic Mike XXL" on Howard Stern's show, and Howard brought up the millions than Chan's "G.I. Joe" made. They noticed that Channing sounded embarrassed about it, and he admitted he was. Here's his story:
Look, I'll be honest. I f–-king hate that movie. I hate that movie. I was pushed into doing that movie. From 'Coach Carter,' they signed me for a three-picture deal. [...] I'm sitting there and they give you the contract and they go, 'Three-picture deal, here you go.' And as a young [actor], you're like, 'Oh my god, yeah, that sounds amazing, I'm doing that!' ... Even the options go from X amount of money -- it was like 60 grand to 80 grand to, like, 100 grand. I'm like 'Oh my god that's so much money.' Even if I just got one other of those movies, I'm good. So time goes by and you get other jobs ... and things happen and then you have a dream job that you want to go do. And the studio calls up and they're like, 'Hey, we've got a movie for you, we're going to send it to you.' And they send it to you. It was right during the writer's strike and it's G.I. Joe."
He said he loves G.I. Joe but he wanted to play Snake Eyes. They said no, you have to be Duke. Howard Stern pointed out that so many people would be thrilled because it's G.I. Joe and he got the lead role. But Channing continued...
The script wasn't any good and I was like I don't want to do something that -- 1) I'm a fan of since I was a kid, I watched it every morning growing up. I didn't want to do something that I thought was 1) bad, and 2) I just didn't know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe."
Howard pointed out that Mark Wahlberg was originally attached to "G.I. Joe" but he was considered too old for the role. Channing quipped that maybe he should've done his Mark Wahlberg impression to get out of it. But Howard loved the movie, and Channing admitted he was "super lucky and blessed to have been given that film" and it wasn't really that bad. But he only did it because of his contractual obligation. (That happens a lot.)
Check out more clips from the show over here. Chan just opened up on all kinds of subjects -- including how Emilia Clarke (the Khaleesi on "Game of Thrones") offered herself to Channing and his wife for a threesome. That would be Dracarys as hellllll!
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