Sure, Channing Tatum is a pretty easy target. The actor owes his rise in Hollywood largely thanks to roles in empty films such as “Step Up,” “Fighting” and “G.I. Joe” but the young actor seems determined to work with directors and actors of quality. As we previously reported, the actor not only joined but from what we hear, actively sought out relatively small role in Steven Soderbergh’s “Knockout.” Last summer, he appeared in Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies,” he’s got Kevin McDonald’s period actioner “The Eagle Of The Ninth” in the can and he even dreams of having Nicolas Winding Refn direct his stripper autobiography. The actor clearly has his pulse on who’s hot.
Right after Tatum finishes up his two or three weeks worth of work on “Knockout” he will jump into production on “Son Of No One” directed by Dito Montiel. The actor previously worked with Montiel on his breakout film “A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints” as well as “Fighting” and clearly they’ve developed a rapport.
Speaking with Canwest, the actor dropped some details about his forthcoming film while doing the press rounds for the (thoroughly awful) “Dear John.” “This one’s going to be insane. It’s sort of a cop psycho drama, emphasizing the psycho part of it. DeNiro will have a little part . . . Ray Liotta will be playing a big part. It’s going to be nuts,” he says. Terrence Howard and James Gandolfini also have roles in the film about “a young cop [who] is assigned to a precinct in the working class neighborhood where he grew up, and an old secret threatens to destroy his life and his family.” We’re assuming Tatum is the cop in question but we’re not sure about everybody else.
While it’s safe to say we haven’t been fans of Tatum’s work to date, we’re always heartened when young actors seek out interesting work rather than settling for usual stuff that gets thrown their way. Particularly for someone like Tatum, who with his physique could easily settle into a Vin Diesel-esque career without batting an eye. We hope “Son Of No One” is as meaty as it sounds, particularly with the talent that will be involved.
“Son Of No One” starts filming in March.