RUMOR OR REEL?: Channing Tatum to Star in Steven Soderbergh's 'Knockout'

The Playlist is exclusively reporting that Channing Tatum has been cast in Steven Soderbergh's next movie. For those who don't know, Soderbergh has a huge laundry list of successful projects that includes films like Julia Roberts' award-winning drama Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen. Here's what the site is reporting...

Alright, the final piece of the puzzle has arrived.

Channing Tatum has joined the cast of Steven Soderbergh's action-revenge spy thriller "Knockout" which will star Mixed Martial Arts champion and non-act0r Gina Carano in the lead role of a black ops spy that is betrayed by her team.

Meanwhile, a last minute addition to the cast is in the works. Antonio Banderas is in talks to join the cast playing the head of a Black-ops European unit.

On Thursday, we exclusively revealed that Michael Douglas, Dennis Quaid, Ewan McGregor and Michael Fassbender ("Inglourious Basterds," "Hunger") had all joined the cast in supporting roles.

Tatum will play one of the elite specialists on Carano's team named Aaron — a military gearhead-type who's sent to try and bring her back in once she's been double-crossed and gone rogue; trying to figure out who exactly is setting her uhttp://channingtatumunwrapped.com/channingtatumblog/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=1623p. But there is no love lost between the characters which makes his mission more difficult. But we're told the role is actually relatively small in the scope of things.

While everyone is on the same side initially, "Knockout" features a lot of duplicity, double crosses and even reversals of allegiances. Fassbender plays an untrustworthy teammate, Douglas ultimately proves to be an ally and McGregor, the owner of the Blackwater-type special ops team (and once a romantic interest to the lead) is instrumental in trying to make Carano's character, Mallory Kane take the fall for an incident that goes wrong and involves a murder. Dennis Quaid plays her father...

...Tatum will likely shoot his role in two or three weeks and then be whisked off to start production on Dito Montiel's "Son of No One" starring Robert Deniro in March (if everything goes according to plan on that particular project). Montiel directed Tatum in the 2009 film, "Fighting" and "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints."

David Holmes, the composer behind Soderbergh's "Oceans 11-13" series and "Out Of Sight" will be writing the score. It'll be interesting to see what he comes up with. Spy films aren't exactly known for their funky scores, that is unless he's going for a '70s Bond vibe (which would be pretty fresh).

Soderbergh is currently location scouting as we speak and Turkey is now officially off the locale plan due to poor tax incentives. The film will now be primarily shot in Barcelona, Dublin and New Mexico. The picture is set to start shooting in February and Lionsgate hopes to have the film in theaters for August. That seems fast, but the filmmaker is rather notorious for the speed in which he shoots and edits. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, making this date is definitely feasible.

If what The Playlist is reporting is true, then I want to say a BIG congrats to CHAN!! I haven't had a chance to confirm the story yet, but I did recently hear Chan mention that he may be filming another movie before 'Son of No One', which puts this report in the realm of possibility as far as I'm concerned.

Another rumor that recently hit the airwaves....

Although it was news to Chan yesterday at the 'Dear John' press junket, it was recently reported that writers (Zombieland’s Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) have been hired for 'G.I. Joe 2'. So if the recent Collider.com report is true, the sequel to 'G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra' may be yet another project that our busy bee will film in 2010 or 2011.

Finally, I was able to attend a press screening for Chan's movie 'Dear John', which hits theaters on February 5th. I will post a full review of the film and story about my day at the press junket on CTU closer to the release date.

But I do have to tell you that 'Dear John' is hands-down the most beautiful and heartfelt performance I've ever seen from Chan. I was a blubbering mess and could not have been more proud of what I saw. I really feel that you all are going to truly fall in love the film. Stay tuned, because I'll post more about 'Dear John' soon!

UPDATE (1/11/2010): Chan told me that the rumors are true. He will be working on 'Knockout' with Soderbergh, and he'll be filming in Barcelona in February. CONGRATS to Chan for landing another great role with such an accomplished director. His career continues to be on fire, and I think it couldn't happen to a better person!

---

Love Channing Tatum? Stay in the Know...
Subscribe to Channing Tatum Unwrapped: Email | RSS | Twitter