Or Channing Tatum & Nicolas Winding Refn on Collision Course To Eventually Work Together…
So Channing Tatum and Danish nu-auteur Nicolas Winding Refn will eventually work with one another. It seems like it’s only a matter of time even if the fates have conspired against them so far. Earlier this year Tatum said he wanted Refn to direct an autobiographical film about his career as a stripper (yup, this is what Tatum did before acting) and apparently either the filmmaker was listening or the actor doggedly pursued his next project.
Because as it turns out they already had a collaboration in the works. Tatum was set to star opposite Harrison Ford in the Paul Schrader-penned project, “The Dying Of The Light,” before it died earlier this year.
“The Dying Of The Light” centered on an aging CIA agent who becomes afflicted by blindness while on his last mission [ed. It should be noted that its being tossed around most places that agent is affected by Alzheimer’s but Refn himself set us straight on this last year]. We’re not sure who Tatum was supposed to play (a younger cop?), but he was cast.
“It was all set to go and it also had Channing Tatum in it, who is another very good young actor,” Refn told us this week while promoting his upcoming viking film, “Valhalla Rising” which comes out July 16.
“It was all ready and I got caught in classic Hollywood thing where it was all ready and then it unwinded itself over one weekend and it fell apart on a Monday morning,” he sighed. “The money was there, but various combination of obstacles started fighting against it. When I look at it in hindsight one of the the good reasons it didn’t happen was the film was too expensive in order to justify itself. So I felt. ‘Oh god, let me just get out of here.’ “
We asked Refn is there was any chance the picture was coming back and he said negative. “Oh no, it’s over with. To me it was such a great script by Paul Schrader. I’m so annoyed it didn’t work. I liked Harrison Ford a lot and I liked being around him. And it could have been a great film, but…”
The Playlist: You know Harrison Ford has a reputation of bailing on projects that are too edgy. He was supposed to be the lead in “Traffic” the role that Michael Douglas took and he was also supposed to star in a Joe Carnahan Western, but he bounced from that one too.
Refn: “Hmm, I didn’t know that [long pause]. I think I was probably a victim of that.”
Well, as for Tatum, there’s always, the neo-Western set in Bangok called, “Only God Forgives” and an untitled Gore Verbinski-produced heist film that Refn is producing. Hell, there’s even “Drive” with Ryan Gosling that shoots this fall. Who knows, there could be a role there for the hungry young actor.
As we’ve noted before, it might be time to stop hating on Tatum for “G.I. Joe” and other dumb roles. He actively pursued and won his role in Steven Sodbergh’s action thriller, “Haywire” and also is working with another intelligent filmmaker Kevin McDonald in 2011’s “The Eagle of the Ninth.” At the very least, we can always appreciate an actor who wants to step it up and work with the best cinematic visionaries out there.
