Channing Tatum has been trying to get his Peter Pan project off the ground for a while (fairy dust is in short supply these days), and now that seems to finally be happening as Gavin O’Connor (WARRIOR) has signed on to helm the movie. Written by Billy Ray (THE HUNGER GAMES) and spearheaded by producer Joe Roth (ALICE IN WONDERLAND), Tatum’s tale concerns (in very vague terms) “an origin story of Peter Pan and Hook.” Originally the move was to be called PAN, but the title has now been changed for reasons unkown to NEVERLAND.
While it was originally believed that Tatum would star as Pan himself, the word is now that he will only produce and that the lead role is yet uncast. It can be assumed this will change once the O’Connor-supervised rewrite finishes, but until then, all those of us who love the Peter Pan story can do is think and hope that they don’t completely f*** this up. I mean, my hopes are low considering the ALICE IN WONDERLAND connection, but hope is still there. Tatum’s been trying very hard to make this movie work, meaning that there must be something there worth fighting for.