Channing Tatum reveals he turned down 'G.I. Joe' role seven times

WASHINGTON [US]: Hollywood actor Channing Tatum, who has been vocal about hating starring in 2009's 'G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra', has revealed that he even tried to avoid acting in the movie almost a dozen times.

According to Variety, an American media company, while participating in Vanity Fair's lie detector test Tatum said he tried passing on 'The Rise of Cobra' seven times but was forced to star in the Paramount tentpole.

"The first one I passed on seven times, but they had an option on me and I had to do the movie. So the second one, I obviously just didn't want to do that one either," Tatum said.

The actor confirmed that in order to avoid any further commitment to the franchise he asked to be killed off in the first 10 minutes of the sequel, 2013's 'G.I. Joe: Retaliation'. Did he regret that decision? "No," he said bluntly, reported Variety.

"Look, I'll be honest. I f--king hate that movie. I hate that movie," Tatum previously told Howard Stern about the first 'G.I. Joe' film. "I was pushed into doing that movie."

'The Rise of Cobra' earned negative reviews from critics but managed to gross just over USD 300 million at the worldwide box office. The sequel, headlined by Dwayne Johnson, performed better with USD 375 million worldwide.

An attempt to revive the 'G.I. Joe' franchise was all but killed in 2021 with the release of 'Snake Eyes', starring Henry Golding. The film only earned USD 40 million worldwide, a dismal result even with the pandemic at play, as per Variety.