CHANNING TATUM - AUTHOR SCRAPS FILM PLANS OVER TATUM ROLE

AUTHOR SCRAPS FILM PLANS OVER TATUM ROLE

The author of a best-selling book about a real life assassin has scrapped plans to turn it into a big budget movie - because he "hated the idea" of CHANNING TATUM in the lead role.
Phil Carlo optioned the rights to his novel The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer, which tells the tale of vicious mob hitman Richard Kuklinski.
The author struck a deal with Hollywood producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura - the brains behind Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra - but the 18 month option expired in July (09).
Carlo has now denied Bonaventura's request to extend his hold on the story until he could secure financing - because of a disagreement over casting.
The writer admits movie bosses wanted Tatum to tackle the role of Kuklinski, but he would have preferred to see Mickey Rourke take the lead - and the feud now means the book is unlikely to make it on to the big screen.
Carlo tells New York Post gossip column PageSix, "I had to turn him down. I really hated the idea of Channing Tatum. I told di Bonaventura that this is not the guy to play one of the most feared killers of the 20th Century. 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."