For a while, Channing Tatum dominated the entertainment industry. He had his breakthrough role in the 2006 dance drama Step Up, in which he starred opposite his now ex-wife Jenna Dewan.
He then led the major franchises Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street. However, after becoming established in his career, the 41-year-old actor chose to exit the spotlight and work on smaller projects. But now, Tatum has inserted himself back into the narrative.
The actor made headlines for his budding romance with The Batman actor Zoe Kravitz and his producer role for the reality competition show called Finding Magic Mike, inspired by his stripper-movie franchise. Most recently, he opened up about his absence from acting and why he’s turned off from superhero movies.
Channing Tatum can’t watch Marvel movies
While Tatum has the superhero looks down, he hasn’t had the best of luck when it comes to his relationship with Marvel. The superhero studio dropped the ball when Tatum was involved in pre-production to star in an untitled stand-alone movie focused on the X-Men character Gambit. He was slated to play the main character.
According to Variety, the movie was stuck in development for four years. Tatum told the outlet, “The studio really didn’t want us to direct it. They wanted anybody but us, essentially, because we had never directed anything.”
The actor continued to reveal that he was so “in love” with the movie’s script that he was “open to letting go of directing.” Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned and Disney ended up canceling the movie entirely, in 2019.
“Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized. I shut off my Marvel machine,” Tatum commented. “I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.”
Tatum addresses his hiatus from acting
In the same interview, the Alabamian addressed his absence from the big screen. He expressed that he felt overworked and found himself unable to deliver the high-quality performances he wanted to be known for.
He shared, “I felt like I was the fat kid at the buffet, just working and working and working. I took four movies back to back without any time off. I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be in those last two movies because I didn’t have the energy.”
Tatum pondered in the same interview, “Do I want to act anymore? Was I going to direct? Do I want to be in the industry anymore? I got lucky. I won a creative lottery ticket. I made a little bit of money, so I could take a step back and figure out what life is.”
Currently, Tatum is expected to make his triumphant return to the big screen in the threequel to Magic Mike, titled Magic Mike’s Final Dance, as well as the star-studded movie The Lost City. The latter stars Tatum, Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe in lead roles.
The Lost City will premiere in theaters on March 25, 2022.
Geez! What a f**king p**sy! I knew his part in The End was probably how he really was in real life. lol.
Man..he’s soft af..