It’s no secret that actor Channing Tatum was not a fan of his time working on Paramount’s “G.I. Joe” franchise, and it was one of the reasons his character was killed off so quickly in the sequel which saw Dwayne Johnson take over.
Now, participating in a lie detector test for Vanity Fair, Tatum revealed that he tried passing on 2009’s “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” seven times – but ended up being forced to star in the tentpole action feature due to contractual obligations.
He says: “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 be in that one either.”
He confirmed he was the one who asked to be killed off in the first ten minutes of the sequel “G.I. Joe: Retaliation” in 2013 and says quite bluntly he doesn’t regret that decision at all.
Tatum previously told Howard Stern when he signed on for “Coach Carter,” the studio had signed him to a three-picture deal that ended up including the two “G.I. Joe” films. Both films managed to gross over $300 million each at the worldwide box office despite both scoring negative reviews – especially the first one.
A recent attempt to revive the property with the Henry Golding-led “Snake Eyes” film bombed hard, taking in only $40 million worldwide.
