For his next role, Channing Tatum is stepping behind the camera.
Channing Tatum will be co-directing and producing Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, which tells the story of a lonely high school student who plots to kill his best friend, then himself, on his 18th birthday.
While Tatum and co-director Reid Carolin say they’re still looking for a writer, the movie is going to be adapted from the young-adult novel by Matthew Quick, author of the Silver Linings Playbook, which was nominated for five Oscars in 2012, also earning Jennifer Lawrence the Academy Award for Best Actress.
If everything aligns, Tatum would play the high school student’s teacher who intervene. It is another darker role for the actor after his recent turn as champion wrestler Mark Schultz in Foxcatcher alongside Steve Carrell and Mark Ruffalo.
It has been a busy year for Tatum, who went back to his funny-man roots when he reprised his role as Jenko in the 21 Jump Street sequel, 22 Jump Street, back in June, as well as filming Magic Mike XXL, the second installation of Magic Mike, which hits cinemas next summer. He’s also set to star as a half-wolf, half-man warrior in the Wakowski brothers’ upcoming action thriller, Jupiter Ascending, alongside Mila Kunis, as card-shark Gambit in Marvel’s X-Men spin-off, and in Quentin Tarantino’s much-talked about swansong, The Hateful Eight.
