Despite his persona as a pretty boy with a sense of humor, Channing Tatum has worked with some impressive directors during his career. The list includes: Michael Mann, Ron Howard, Phil Lord & Chris Miller, Steven Soderbergh, Bennet Miller and Quentin Tarantino. Soon, it may add Darren Aronofsky.
Deadline reports that Aronofsky is in talks to helm an Evel Knievel biopic with Tatum set to star as the titular daredevil. In fact, Tatum has been trying to get this film made for a while, even taking on a producing credit to try and push it through developmental purgatory. Nabbing an Academy Award-nominated director like Aronofsky would be a huge win for the project and help put it on the production fast track.
Currently set up at Sony, the film does not have any other names attached to it at the moment. But Tatum and Aronofsky have enough cache built up to attract additional A-list talent.
Tatum, despite the disappointing "Jupiter Ascending," is one of the biggest stars on the planet right now and is about to begin shooting for the solo X-Men film "Gambit" over at Fox. And while Aronofsky's last feature "Noah" received a mixed critical and financial reception, 2010's "Black Swan" was nominated for five Oscars (winning one) and grossed $329 million worldwide on a paltry $13 million budget.
However, nothing is set in stone at the moment. Aronofsky had flirted with big name films before ("Robocop," "The Wolverine") only to back out at the last minute. Tatum, meanwhile, may have "23 Jump Street" coming down the pipeline any minute so it's unclear when production would begin on the Knievel project.
Still, it's an interesting pairing that should garner some attention if it comes to fruition. We'll keep you posted as more details begin to emerge.
