Channing Tatum Turned Down G.I. Joe Seven Times, Forced to Star

Channing Tatum has already gone on record saying he hated starring in 2009’s “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” so it’s not too surprising to hear the actor’s most recent revelation that he tried to avoid acting in the movie almost a dozen times. Participating in a lie detector test for Vanity Fair, Tatum said he tried passing on “The Rise of Cobra” seven times but was forced to star in the Paramount tentpole.

“The first one I passed on seven times, but they had an option on me and I had to do the movie,” Tatum said. “So the second one, I obviously just didn’t want to do that one either.”

Tatum confirmed he asked to be killed off in the first 10 minutes of the sequel, 2013’s “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” to avoid any further commitment to the franchise. Did he regret that decision? “No,” he said bluntly.

“Look, I’ll be honest. I fucking hate that movie. I hate that movie,” Tatum previously told Howard Stern about the first “G.I. Joe” film. “I was pushed into doing that movie. From ‘Coach Carter,’ they signed me to a three-picture deal…They give you the contract and they go, ‘Three-picture deal, here you go.’ And as a young [actor], you’re like, ‘Oh my god, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!’ Time goes by and you get other jobs and you’re building your quote and you have a dream job you want to do. And … the studio calls up and they’re like, ‘Hey, we got a movie for you, we’re going to send it to you.’ And they send it to you, and it’s G.I. Joe.”

Tatum continued, “And I love G.I. Joe: ‘Can I play Snake Eyes?’ And they’re like, ‘No, you’re not playing Snake Eyes, you’re playing G.I. Joe.’ The script wasn’t any good… And I didn’t want to do something that I… was a fan of since I was a kid and watched every morning growing up — and didn’t want to do something that was, one, bad and, two, I just didn’t know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe.”

“The Rise of Cobra” earned negative reviews from critics but managed to gross just over $300 million at the worldwide box office. The sequel, headlined by Dwayne Johnson, performed better with $375 million worldwide. An attempt to revive the “G.I. Joe” franchise was all but killed in 2021 with the release of “Snake Eyes,” starring Henry Golding. The film only earned $40 million worldwide, a dismal result even with the pandemic at play.

Watch Tatum’s full lie detector interview in the video below.