Channing Tatum openly discussed his disinterest in working on the G.I. Joe film series. The action-adventure film was released on August 21, 2009, and the 43-year-old actor played the role of Duke. Even though Tatum’s character Duke gained many fans and was praised for his performance, the truth is that he never intended to play the part.
In 2013, the Dear John actor came back as Duke in G.I. Joe: Retaliation, but even this time he wasn’t working in the movie with a happy heart and found a way to remove himself from the movie’s team.
Channing Tatum tried to pass the G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra seven times
In many interviews, Channing Tatum spoke honestly about what forced him to act in the movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The Lost City actor explained he had no choice but to do the film. The 43-year-old actor said that he had passed the movie 7 times before he finally gave up and said yes. During an interview, Tatum spoke about why he was averse to doing the action-adventure film. The Step Up actor said,
“The first one I passed on seven times, but they had an option on me and I had to do the movie. So the second one, I obviously just didn’t want to do that one either.”
The White House Down actor also admitted that he was the one who asked the makers to kill him in the starting 10 minutes of the 2013 movie G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Tatum has spoken about his disinterest in the action movie franchise in many interviews and he also explained that he never regrets giving up on the movie series.
Channing Tatum explains why he was forced to do the G.I. Joe film series
During an interview with Howard Stern, Tatum said he hated the G.I. Joe film series and never wanted to be a part of it. He explained that it was a contract that he signed that made him do the film. The Magic Mike actor revealed that he had signed a three-movie deal with the makers of the G.I. Joe film series which compelled him to do the movie. While talking about the movie series, the Coach Carter actor said,
“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 to a three-picture deal…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, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!’ Time goes by and you get other jobs and you’re building your quote and you have a dream job you want to do.”
He further added,
“And … the studio calls up and they’re like, ‘Hey, we got a movie for you, we’re going to send it to you.’ And they send it to you, and it’s G.I. Joe.”
The first film in the series, The Rise of the Cobra, failed to please audiences but grossed $300 million at the global box office. Despite the fact that the film was a flop, many Tatum fans admired him as Duke in the action-adventure film.
Source: Variety
