Though 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra proved to be a pretty big hit for Paramount Pictures, the movie was panned by critics, and long-time fans of the classic comic series/action figure line were left disappointed by the first ever live-action Joe adaptation.
Star Channing Tatum, who played Duke, has already made it clear that he wasn't too happy with how The Rise of Cobra turned out (he actually told Howard Stern that he "f*cking hated that movie" in a previous interview), and has now revealed that he did everything he could to get out of appearing in it.
“The first one I passed on seven times, but they had an option on me and I had to do the movie,” Tatum told Vanity Fair during a lie-detector interview. “So the second one, I obviously just didn’t want to do that one either.”
Tatum was left with no choice as he would have been sued if he pulled out, but he did manage to convince the studio to kill his character off in the sequel, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, within the first 10 minutes!
Paramount attempted to revive the franchise with 2021's Snake Eyes, but the movie only took in $40 million worldwide. This should have effectively put the G.I.'s back in the box for good, but we're already hearing whispers that another reboot may be on the horizon.
You can check out Tatum's lie-detector interview in full below.
About The Author:
Mark Cassidy is a writer, photographer, amateur filmmaker, and Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic from Dublin, Ireland.