Actor Channing Tatum has said turning down a role in Guillermo del Toro’s unrealised Beauty and the Beast adaptation was the biggest mistake of his career.
The 45-year-old She’s the Man star had just welcomed his daughter Everly, now 12, with his then-wife and Step Up co-star Jenna Dewan when he was approached about the project.
Tatum explained that, alongside becoming a father for the first time, he was working on a film that was “absolutely killing” him, and the script “wasn’t totally there yet”.
“I was just in a place in my head that I was like, ‘I don’t think I can do this right now,” he told Vanity Fair in a profile alongside his Roofman co-star Kirsten Dunst.
Tatum continued: “It was the biggest mistake, because I’m the biggest Guillermo fan ever. And I think Guillermo doing Beauty and the Beast would’ve been the sickest movie ever.”
Del Toro’s Beauty and the Beast adaptation never made it to production. The director instead focused on projects including the fantasy romance The Shape of Water, which won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2018, a 2022 stop-motion Pinocchio adaptation, and his new movie Frankenstein starring Oscar Isaac.
Tatum said of the director: “He’s such a creator. I’ll probably never forgive myself on that one, but I hope we get to work together one day.”
The actor’s remarks come ahead of the release of his latest project Roofman, which follows the true story of former army ranger Jeffrey Manchester (Tatum), who became notorious for his modus operandi of breaking into his target locations, most commonly fast-food restaurants, by drilling through the roof.
After being sentenced to 45 years in jail for the crime, Manchester broke out of prison after four years and evaded capture for months by hiding in a Toys R Us store.
Dunst stars alongside Tatum in the biopic directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) as Leigh Wainscott, who falls in love with Jeffrey – unaware that he’s a fugitive.
Tatum said the “biggest surprise” about Jeff when he spoke to the convict on the phone was how “unbelievably warm” and “charismatic” he was.
“He has so many dreams. He has so many wants for himself still,” the actor said. “He took care of me on the phone, in a way, rather than me trying to give him something from the outside.”
Tatum rose to fame after starring alongside Amanda Bynes in the teen comedy She’s the Man and the dance drama Step Up in 2006.
He went on to star as Duke in the action films G I Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G I Joe: Retaliation before creating a trilogy of Magic Mike films, based on his own experiences as a male exotic dancer.
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