So Channing Tatum has been cast in the role of G.I. Joe team leader Duke in the upcoming big budget adaptation of the popular 80s toyline/cartoon.
(Actually, rumor has it Duke may not even be team leader in this version. Sigh.)
Yes, Channing Tatum, the guy from Step Up.
I wasn’t exactly thrilled when I first heard about the casting decision.
After all, I grew up in the 80s, watched every episode of the original cartoon series, even collected the Marvel comics up to the final issue.
As far as boyhood heroes go, Duke was right up there with Optimus Prime.
That right there, my friends, is a REAL American hero.
Anyway, here’s a better pic of this Channing Tatum, female-heartthrob character:
It took me awhile to find a decent headshot of the guy; at first I had trouble finding any pics that were ”non-underwear model,” if you know what I mean.
I have to admit, in the pic above, he actually looks sort of Duke-like. A bit young, perhaps, but passable. Like most fans of the original cartoon, I always pictured Duke slightly older and more experienced, somewhere in his mid-to-late thirties.
According to imdb.com, Tatum was born in 1980, making him 28 this year. He just looks really young in the pic. At the very least, that makes him old enough to have actually grown up watching the 80s cartoon.
A good friend of mine, upon hearing the news, asked me whether I thought Channing Tatum was too much of a pretty boy to pull off Joe team leader, to which I replied, well, it remains to be seen.
He brought up the late Heath Ledger’s casting as the Joker in this summer’s sequel to Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, a move considered controversial by many a diehard comic book geek. I myself never had any problems with Heath Ledger playing the Joker; to me, he had proven himself as a capable actor, and I’m still extremely curious and eager to see how his performance measures up.
I’ve never seen Brokeback Mountain, and truth be told, I’ve only ever seen Heath Ledger in one role thus far: as Mel Gibson’s son in 2001′s The Patriot. At the time, I dismissed him as just another pretty face, albeit with above average acting skills, and subsequently ignored the rest of his career, that is, until after his Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for the aforementioned gay cowboy flick. After that, I had to admit that there must be more to Heath Ledger than just his hunky good looks. (Although to this day I still cannot bring myself to sit through that movie. At least with Netflix, I don’t have to sweat the whole in-store movie rental thing any more.)
Channing Tatum – not the first choice that leaps to mind, but I’m willing to see what he does with the role.
Tags: Channing Tatum, Channing Tatum Duke, G.I. Joe Live Action Movie
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