Channing Tatum Hates One Of His Own Movies

If there is one thing you start to learn about Hollywood, it's that almost every actor has that one role or film that they only did out of obligation or for the money, that one role or film that they look upon with great shame. It turns out that Channing Tatum is no different. During an interview with Howard Stern, Tatum revealed he hated G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra, the 2009 movie that was one of the first to solidify him as leading man material. In the film, Tatum played Duke, the star soldier and leader of the Joes, but, apparently, the actor really had his eye on the role of Snake Eyes and didn't even want to do the movie in the first place. If you're a G.I. Joe film fan, please find a friend to hold your hand right about now, because Tatum got really real about this.

“Look, I’ll be honest. I f***ing hate that movie. I hate that movie. I was pushed into doing that movie … [After] Coach Carter, they signed me for a three-picture deal… And as a young [actor], you’re like, ‘Oh my god, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!'" he said. "The script wasn’t any good. I didn’t want to do something that I thought was 1) bad, and 2) I just didn’t know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe." Ouch. Sure, the movie was critically panned on a pretty much universal level, but, commercially, it made enough money to warrant a sequel — in which Tatum returned in the role of Duke only to be quickly killed off a few scenes into the movie. OK, maybe we should have seen this coming...

Still, it's at least a small blessing that Tatum waited until nine years had elapsed before revealing that he just wasn't that into G.I. Joe. Some actors — I'm looking at you, Robert Pattinson — don't even wait that long. Some actors — still looking at you, Robert Pattinson — are very vocal about how much they dislike a project while they're still working on it. Of course, when it comes to something like Twilight, there are just as many people who will celebrate that kind of self-awareness as there are people who might be hurt that the face of Edward Cullen actually really hates Edward Cullen. But Rise of Cobra, while not objectively or critically a great movie by any means, still appealed to the woman within me who loves to watch fictional car chases and explosions, and can appreciate the film for its entertainment value.

I know not everyone agrees with me on this score, however, so people are probably just amused that Tatum finally admitted something critics have already said in numerous, well-thought out reviews. But, as with any diplomatic actor, he managed to find a nice middle ground by thanking the film for all that it did for him and his career. "I could have been given… I don’t know, Scream 5,” he said, which is, incidentally, another movie that I really enjoyed. Clearly Tatum thinks that I have terrible taste in movies. "I’m super lucky and blessed to have been given that film. That was really not all that bad."

Check out the interview below.

Image: Paramount Pictures; Getty Images