Channing Tatum reveals he snubbed GI Joe role seven times before asking to die in sequel
Actor says he ‘had to’ star in the first two films of the series due to deal with Paramount
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Your support makes all the difference.Channing Tatum has once again made his disdain for the GI Joe film series abundantly clear.
The actor starred as elite soldier Duke in GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009) and GI Joe: Retaliation (2013), the first and second instalments of the saga.
However, per Tatum’s request, his character was killed off in the first 10 minutes of the sequel.
On a new episode of Vanity Fair’s popular Lie Detector Test YouTube series, the 42-year-old actor confirmed “yes”, Duke’s death was his decision, and that “no” he did not regret it.
When asked “why not?”, Tatum explained that he was under a contractual obligation from Paramount Pictures: “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 wanna be in that one either,” he laughingly added.
Tatum previously addressed his GI Joe exit on The Howard Stern Show in 2015, telling host Stern: “Look, I’ll be honest. I f***ing hate that movie. I hate that movie.”
The Independent has contacted Paramount for comment.
At the time, the 21 Jump Street star shared that he had a deep love for the franchise as a child, prompting him to ask if he could play the role of Snake Eyes, later portrayed by Crazy Rich Asians’ Henry Golding in the third film Snake Eyes (2021).
Tatum recalled his request was denied, telling Stern: “The script wasn’t any good. And I didn’t want to do something that I was a fan of since I was a kid and watched every morning growing up.”
Most recently, he led the action-romance The Lost City and comedy Dog.
The actor stars in the forthcoming Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the third title in his well-known comedy-drama stripping franchise.
Magic Mike’s Last Dance is scheduled to release in cinemas on 10 February.
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