Not That Simple

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Mafia hit-man biographer Phil Carlo has reportedly declined to sign a deal with producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura to make a film of The Ice Man, a portrait of ruthless mob assassin Richard Kuklinski, because he "couldn't stomach the idea" of Channing Tatum in the lead.

Channing Tatum; former mob hitman Richard Kuklinski

Carlo has told Page Six that Ice Man was optioned by di Bonaventura 18 months ago, and that the producer had recently asked to extend the contract so he could complete financing for the film. But he couldn't handle Tatum-as-Kuklinski.

"This is not the guy to play one of the most feared killers of the 20th Century," Carlo is quoted as saying. "I think Mickey Rourke would really be good. He's got that sense of danger, and there's a similarity between the two. But it's not Channing Tatum."

I doubt if di Bonaventura's thinking was as callow and insipid as Carlo implies. Stories like this always miss (or deliberately ignore) key complexities and side issues, but let's assume for a moment that this one is substantially correct.

Rourke would be great in such a role, but you'd have to get the budget way down due to Rourke not being a marquee name, and is in fact far from this. Except di Bonaventura isn't interested in making a low-budget film about a cold-hearted killer because he wouldn't make his usual fat fee if he did. A veteran big-studio exec and high-powered producer, di Bonaventura is a very smart and shrewd guy but he's mainly about making the big bucks first and a movie that works on its own terms second. He needs a hot actor like Tatum in the lead to persuade big investors (who never care about the story or the director or other creative elements -- they regard movies solely as product) to invest in the first place.

Kuklinski "was a notorious contract killer who worked for the Gambinos and boasted about having murdered more than 200 men," the story reports. "He earned his ghoulish nickname because of his method of disguising the time of death of his murder victims by chilling their bodies in an industrial freezer."

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 7, 2009 at 7:41 AM

comment #1

actionman says ...

Tatum, like Worthington, is a non-event.

Posted by actionman at August 7, 2009 8:13 AM

comment #2

George Prager says ...

Saw him on Regis and Kelly a couple of days ago. He's like Don Stroud without the charm.

Posted by George Prager at August 7, 2009 8:19 AM

comment #3

TulseLuper says ...

The only way I see this working is if they reduce the character to a villain in a bad torture porn film with Channing Tatum putting on a bald cap and gaining some weight to convince us he's a proper actor. I hope I'm wrong because the idea is slightly nauseating to me. If you're going to make a film about a guy like Kuklinski, take him seriously.

Posted by TulseLuper at August 7, 2009 8:20 AM

comment #4

Chase Kahn says ...

Tell will tell on Worthington, he's got a few movies on tap...

Posted by Chase Kahn at August 7, 2009 8:25 AM

comment #5

Chase Kahn says ...

"Tell will tell" -- wow...

Posted by Chase Kahn at August 7, 2009 8:26 AM

comment #6

raygo says ...

Tatum is not a marquee name. That said, he has potential. How much? Who can say. I found him not very good in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints (but everyone in that movie was off their game). If handled correctly, it could be similar to Charlize Theron in Monster. Good looking guy plays bad. It could work.

Posted by raygo at August 7, 2009 8:27 AM

comment #7

actionman says ...

from what I have seen of both tatum and worthington, they seem to be totally interchangeable -- lumbering meat-heads with zero on-screen charisma.

Posted by actionman at August 7, 2009 8:28 AM

comment #8

Sabina E says ...

Tatum is sexy and fine to look at, but I can't imagine him in the role of a cold-blooded killer.

Mickey Rourke is definitely a better casting choice. It's a very wise move to cancel the whole thing.

Posted by Sabina E at August 7, 2009 8:29 AM

comment #9

actionman says ...

tatum may in fact be sexy, but when he speaks, he sounds MMR

Posted by actionman at August 7, 2009 8:32 AM

comment #10

JohnCope says ...

Tatum so far has left little impression on me. Worthington on the other hand is the real deal.

Posted by JohnCope at August 7, 2009 8:34 AM

comment #11

Stringer Bell says ...

Sorry to hijack:

http://blogs.forward.com/jj-goldberg/111438/

Good article. Judd Apatow needles Jon Stewart about Jews who change their last names in Hollywood. As mentioned in the link for the article, if you click on the Stewart video link, skip to the 17 minute mark (once you get past the annoying U2/Blackberry ads).

Posted by Stringer Bell at August 7, 2009 8:35 AM

comment #12

raygo says ...

Rourke is too old for this project. These crimes happened many years ago.

Posted by raygo at August 7, 2009 8:36 AM

comment #13

raygo says ...

Mark Wahlberg might work in this.

Posted by raygo at August 7, 2009 8:37 AM

comment #14

Circumvrent says ...

True Romance-era, or even early Sopranos-era James Gandolfini would have made a perfect Kuklinski. It's a pretty fascinating story, and would be a great vehicle for whoever eventually gets a hold of it.

Posted by Circumvrent at August 7, 2009 8:38 AM

comment #15

Circumvrent says ...

Good call, raygo. He'd need to put on a little bulk, though.

Posted by Circumvrent at August 7, 2009 8:40 AM

comment #16

George Prager says ...

Jennifer Love Hewitt

Posted by George Prager at August 7, 2009 8:49 AM

comment #17

Sabina E says ...

Stringer Bell, I totally feel you on that Jewish name changing article. It was very common for Indian Muslim movie stars to Hindu-ize their names, back in the early days of Indian cinema. Not so much today anymore, though.

Posted by Sabina E at August 7, 2009 9:01 AM

comment #18

Glenn Kenny says ...

One has to enjoy any story where the writer gets to say, "Sorry, no," and make it stick. Also, it should be character-building for a punk like Tatum to NOT get everything he wants...

Posted by Glenn Kenny at August 7, 2009 9:51 AM

comment #19

Michael says ...

Mark Wahlberg might work in this.

Ok, I have to ask...how does this guy still get work? When Shooter is your high water mark of the last decade...I mean, come on.

Posted by Michael at August 7, 2009 9:53 AM

comment #20

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

Tatum is not bad. He's just not really had many good roles yet. He was excellent in A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, as was Shia.

Problem with a lot of up and coming actors these days is that there just aren't the variety of roles that the likes of Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt had to choose from when they were making their way up the Hollywood ladder. Even something like Seven - films like that just aren't being made anymore. So Tatum has to do G.I. Joe and whatnot.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at August 7, 2009 10:00 AM

comment #21

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

In what universe is Channing Tatum a bigger name than Rourke?

Jeff, do you think there's an executive in this town that would seriously consider green lighting this project on Tatum's name at ANY budget level???? Especially when you consider that at least with Rourke you have overseas pre-sells based on his name alone whereas no one in Germany knows who the fuck Tatum is.

At this point, the only way you can make a project like this interesting is by amping up the verisimilitude to get across the idea that this was a real guy and these events happened. It's the kind of film where the writer(s), director, production designer and DP are the stars and whomever is the lead becomes one by appearing it.

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at August 7, 2009 10:07 AM

comment #22

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Stringer - yeah, what are you doing today, channeling D.Z?

I kid, once in a while is kinda nice to see something you might be interested in and I was, so thanks.

FYI - to skip the rest and go right to the interview, go here:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-30-2009/judd-apatow

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at August 7, 2009 10:16 AM

comment #23

lonniechung says ...

I watched the Ice Man documentary on HBO about 10 years ago and found him to be a boob. The "I just do what I do" approach he has came off as totally phony. Maybe the book explores the disconnect the guy seems to have with life in general, but if the movie just tells the story about some guy who murdered over 100 people for the mob and would go home to his family, count me out. I have no interest or time for people. Any fan of the Sopranos knows that the characters were unsympathetic dumbasses and the only people pulled into their shallow charm were those incapable of rising above. It was an interesting show because it exposed the complexities of one man who failed himself and his family over and over again on so many levels and his struggle to understand why (mostly thanks to Gandolfini).

Posted by lonniechung at August 7, 2009 10:17 AM

comment #24

Dan V. says ...

Channing, like his acting equivalent Hayden Christiansen, is an onscreen black hole of charisma.

Posted by Dan V. at August 7, 2009 10:20 AM

comment #25

nemo says ...

Last summer my 11-year-old nephew started wearing his baseball cap sideways like that doofusy picture of Chatum Tanning. Every time his father saw him, he'd pull the bill of the cap around to the front, saying, "Don't do that. You look like a noodlehead."

Channing's dad needs to tell him to put his cap on right and stop looking like a noodlehead.

Posted by nemo at August 7, 2009 10:26 AM

comment #26

MilkMan says ...

The only person more devoid of humanity than Dick Kuklinski is Park Dietz, the forensic psychiatrist who interviewed him in that HBO doc. Channing Tatum makes Jan-Michael Vincent look like Timothy Carey. And is it just me, or does anyone who saw A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints find it preposterous that Dito Montiel used Butt Rock to soundtrack the tale of a bunch of young boys growing up the Bronx in the early 1980s? I mean, the movie ends with a KISS song for christsakes.

Posted by MilkMan at August 7, 2009 11:26 AM

comment #27

LexG says ...

Channing Tatum was quite good in "Saints," and NO ONE HERE would believe it because nobody bothered to see it, but "Fighting" is actually a real movie with a cool '70s NYC vibe, and Tatum and Terrence Howard giving dueling Method performances. He was like a raw, early Wahlberg or Travolta in that. The guy's good... And in STOP-LOSS, too.

Plus Michael Mann hired him, so the guy's got something...

Unfortunately, I think it's the WAY TOO OLD FOR IT B-Boy posturing that's killing this guy's credibility. He's like a suburban white kid in 1992 who just heard THE CHRONIC and threw away all his Warrant tapes and started wearing his hat too high on his head, with size 87 waist Cross Colours and smoking Newports and saying, "AH, SHIT, YO, THIS BE MY JAAAAAY-YUM!" when ICE ICE BABY comes on the stereo.

That said, he'd be perfect if they ever remake BANGIN' IN LITTLE ROCK from 90s MTV.

Posted by LexG at August 7, 2009 11:37 AM

comment #28

actionman says ...

he was actually good in Saints and Stop-Loss; forgot about those two pieces of work. he just seems so meat-heady.

sort of curious about fighting...

Posted by actionman at August 7, 2009 12:05 PM

comment #29

George Prager says ...

If they ever do a remake of BAND OF THE HAND, he's your guy.

Posted by George Prager at August 7, 2009 12:16 PM

comment #30

actionman says ...

a michael mann production, no less...

Posted by actionman at August 7, 2009 12:23 PM

comment #31

Glenn Kenny says ...

I saw "Saints," more than once in fact, and I still need to be reminded who the fuck Channing Tatum is. I throw that out merely as a counter to Lex G's "nobody bothered to see 'Saints'" contention. And I have to commend those who didn't bother to see "Saints," as it's basically "Mean Streets" after having been Sundance-workshopped to death, only not nearly as good as that sounds.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at August 7, 2009 12:54 PM

comment #32

LexG says ...

I said no one bothered to see "Fighting."

Also, sounds like a lot of people here aren't big fans of his work in "Step Up," which is practically Caan-esque.

As in Scott.

Posted by LexG at August 7, 2009 1:07 PM

comment #33

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

I think it's his name that is the problem. Channing Tatum. That's not a real person's name.

Americans need to stop with the surnames as first names thing. Like calling your daughter MacKenzie. WTF? Why not call her Weinberg or Strauss? Stupid shit.

Dawson. Taylor. Bailey. These are LAST NAMES.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at August 7, 2009 1:37 PM

comment #34

wwlkd says ...

I always thought channing tatum was that guy on Prison Break.

Posted by wwlkd at August 7, 2009 2:27 PM

comment #35

MilkMan says ...

No, that's Moorehead Sloan.

Posted by MilkMan at August 7, 2009 2:41 PM

comment #36

Glenn Kenny says ...

Your eccentric, albeit not actually incorrect, way with clauses and punctuation tripped me up, Mr. G.

You're right. Hardly anybody here, myself included, bothered to see "Fighting." I thought "Saints" was enough Monteil. I may check it out on your recommendation though.

Posted by Glenn Kenny at August 7, 2009 5:03 PM

comment #37

BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey says ...

"Saints" had great New York scenery. One of the few NY set movies in recent decades not to rely on boring flyover shots of midtown/Brooklyn Bridge and actually capture the true flavour of the city. Plus it was set in a borough and not some dogshit Upper East Side fairytale.

Posted by BoshBarnetWonkyDonkey at August 7, 2009 5:41 PM

comment #38

raygo says ...

"Saints" was awful. A huge disappointment.

Posted by raygo at August 7, 2009 6:43 PM

comment #39

BurmaShave says ...

A GUIDE TO RECOGNIZING YOUR SAINTS has the most badass use of "Baker Street" ever.

Posted by BurmaShave at August 8, 2009 9:33 PM

comment #40

frankbooth says ...

Hey, my girlfriend's name is Johnson Anderson, asshole! You made her cry.

Posted by frankbooth at August 9, 2009 2:16 AM

comment #41

free games says ...

Tatum, like Worthington, is a non-event.

Posted by free games at November 1, 2009 5:57 AM

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