Channing Tatum regrets turning down the offer to play the Beast in Guillermo del Toro’s unmade Beauty and the Beast film
Channing Tatum is getting a lot of praise for his performance in the upcoming film, Roofman. Our own Chris Bumbray was one of the praisers, saying in his review of the film, “I think it’s safe to say that Channing Tatum, at this point in his career, has more than proved early naysayers wrong. He’s delivered a string of excellent performances, but with Roofman he truly delivers one of the most affecting performances of the year in a role that would feel tailor-made for him were it not based on a true story. Tatum, after his early roles, reinvented himself as a lovable goof, and that’s kind of exactly how his character, Jeffrey Manchester, comes off.”
While Tatum has gained acclaim before with films like Foxcatcher, the star reveals in a Vanity Fair piece that he got one particular opportunity still haunts him. According to Variety, Guillermo del Toro offered Tatum the role of the Beast in his unproduced Beauty and the Beast movie, but Tatum passed on it. The actor explained,
One of the biggest mistakes of my career: Guillermo del Toro wanted to do Beauty and the Beast, his version of the Beast. And I’d just had a baby, I was on a movie that was absolutely killing me, 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.’ 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.”
He still regrets the decision despite the film not getting made. He stated, “He’s got a billion other things that he wants to do. He’s such a creator. I’ll probably never forgive myself on that one, but I hope we get to work together one day.”
Tatum recently recalled another role he lost when he auditioned to be in Kenneth Branagh’s Thor. The Magic Mike star, however, admits he did not actually want the part, saying, “I didn’t really want to be Thor. But I wanted to audition in front of Kenneth Branagh.” He continues to say that his bombed audition actually taught him something about his acting. Tatum explained, “After I did one take, [Branagh] was like, ‘You’re not allowed to move. Put your hands on this chair.’ And I froze. He nailed my crutch. I spent the next five years really trying to learn stillness.”
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