Channing Tatum has had notable roles in his career, from the cult classic dance movie Step Up, She’s the Man, Dear John, to Magic Mike. He will also reprise his role as Gambit in the MCU, with his most recent role in Roofman. But the actor gets candid on the one role he turned down that he says is his biggest regret.
Before the 2017 live-action movie Beauty and the Beast with Emma Watson, Guillermo Del Toro was in the works to direct his own version in 2012 titled Beauty for Warner Bros. Sadly, the movie was never made and joined the director’s list of unmade projects.
Tatum reveals in an interview withVanity Fairthat he was in talks to play the starring role of Beast in the movie. Around that time, the actor had just done Dear John and White House Down, and admits saying “no” to Del Toro was “the biggest mistake of my career.”
“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,'” he explained.
“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.”
While Tatum didn’t actually miss out on the movie, seeing as it never went past the planning stages, the actor still hopes to one day work with the legendary director.
“He’s got a billion other things that he wants to do,” Tatum added. “He’s such a creator. I’ll probably never forgive myself on that one, but I hope we get to work together one day.”
Del Toro is currently promoting his latest work, the fantasy epic Frankenstein, starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth. Having its first premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, it received a 13-minute standing ovation.
The movie will have a limited theatrical release on October 7, and follow a global release on Netflix on November 7, 2025. Tatum’s Roofman will release on October 10.
