Judged rather unfairly as little more than hunky piece of meat for most of his career so far, Channing Tatum has come a long way in shedding the persona others have crafted for him. He's done tremendous work on three vastly different movies this year in Haywire, The Vow, and 21 Jump Street, scoring two mega-hits in the process. He's begun to dabble in the behind-the-scenes sides of the business by producing the indie comedy Ten Year and an upcoming Peter Pan flick, and this summer will have him revisiting his old life as a dancer in Magic Mike.
With The Wachowskis(The Matrix) looking to jump back into the world of science fiction with their next film, Jupiter Ascending, Tatum has been in their crosshairs to star since March. Mila Kunis was confirmed for it about a month later, and Tatum's name has been attached but never really made official. Just prior to last night's MTV Movie Awards, where he and the ab-tastic Magic Mike gang made Elizabeth Banks a very happy lady, he confirmed that Jupiter Ascending is next on the list, and he seems pretty excited...
Tatum: "Yes, absolutely. It's going to be a crazy action movie from the [directors] of 'The Matrix.' They're going to reinvent the wheel as far as action goes, all over again."
This comes just a few days after supposed plot details were leaked online, with Tatum playing an alien bounty hunter sent to kill a Russian immigrant(Kunis) whose genetic perfection threatens the Queen of the Universe. Of course he ultimately refuses, and love blossoms between him and his intended target. None of that has been made official yet, so take it with a grain of salt.
Apparently there's an offer being floated to Joseph Gordon-Levitt to be in the film as well, as if the thought of The Wachowskis returning to the genre they revolutionized isn't enough. For Tatum, this is a smart move, because you know the goal will be to turn this into a franchise of some sort, and he'd be at the forefront of it. Of course we said the same thing about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and Paramount went out of their to lessen his role in the sequel. [MTV]
