Get ready for Channing Tatum, Director.  The prolific actor/producer has been enjoying some very deserved rave reviews recently for his performance in the drama Foxcatcher, and now it looks as though he’s ready to take his career to the next level with directing.  Tatum is attached to co-direct an adaptation of Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick’s YA book Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock for The Weinstein Company.  Tatum will be directing the picture with his producing partner Reid Carolin, with whom he developed Magic Mike and its upcoming sequel Magic Mike XXL.  More on this interesting directorial debut after the jump. 

channing-tatum-gambit
Image via Sony Pictures

It’s no secret that Tatum has been aspiring to direct sometime soon, and earlier this year word surfaced that he and Carolin were toying with the idea of helming an adaptation of Jo Nesbø’s crime thriller novel The Son.  That project remains in development with the two attached, but THR reports that Tatum and Carolin have now attached themselves to direct Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock.

The rather dark story revolves around a troubled high schooler who plans to kill his best friend and then himself.  Tatum and Carolin are currently on the hunt for a writer, but if everything comes together Tatum would also star in the film as a teacher who attempts to intervene.  An adaptation of the book has been in development for a couple of years, with The Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt penning a previous adaptation.

Tatum has been on a fantastic streak following Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street, turning in a phenomenal dramatic performance in Foxcatcher and recently signing on to star in the next film from the Coen Brothers, the period comedy Hail, Caesar!.  He is also attached to lead the X-Men spinoff Gambit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he made his first cameo appearance as the mutant character in the Days of Future Past follow-up X-Men: Apocalypse.

forgive-me-leonard-peacock-book-cover