Channing Tatum has never kept his dislike of GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra a secret, even going so far as to say that he “f***ing hates” the movie, but he tried his best to get out of the movie before it even began.
While undergoing a lie detector test for Vanity Fair, Channing Tatum said that he actually passed on GI Joe: Rise of Cobra seven times before he was finally made to do it. “The first one I passed on seven times,” Channing said, “but they had an option on me, and I had to do the movie.” Channing Tatum played Duke in the first GI Joe movie, and although he returned for the sequel, his character was killed off within the first ten minutes, something Channing confirms he specifically requested. “I obviously just didn’t want to do that one either,” Tatum said. When asked if he regretted that decision, Tatum quickly said, “No.” I guess no one needs to ask him if he’d come back for a third GI Joe movie.
Channing Tatum told Howard Stern in 2015 that he was pushed into doing GI Joe: Rise of Cobra. “They give you the contract, and they go, ‘Three-picture deal, here you go.’ You’re like, ‘Oh, my God, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!’” Tatum said. “Even the options go from like 60 grand to 80 grand to 100 grand, and I’m like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s so much money.’” The actor said that he was initially excited by the prospect of appearing in a GI Joe movie, but quickly realized they wanted him to play Duke and not Snake-Eyes. “The studio calls up and they’re like ‘Hey, we got a movie for you, we’re going to send it to you,’” Tatum explained, “and they send it to you and it was right during the writer’s strike and it’s G.I. Joe, and I’m like ‘I love G.I. Joe, can I play Snake-Eyes?’ and they’re like ‘No, not playing Snake-Eyes, you’re playing Duke.’… The script wasn’t any good, I didn’t want to do something that I thought was 1.) bad, and 2.) I just didn’t know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe.“
Channing Tatum has plenty of projects just over the horizon, including Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which is set to be released on February 10th. He also recently revealed that his production company is developing a remake of Ghost, the supernatural drama starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg.