So maybe let’s start this with a hat tip to Channing Tatum and how far he’s come. From that guy in the "Step Up" movie, the actor made steady moves to work with directors of note, taking roles in films by Kimberly Peirce ("Stop-Loss"), Michael Mann ("Public Enemies"), Ron Howard ("The Dilemma"), Kevin Macdonald ("The Eagle"), Steven Soderbergh ("Haywire," "Side Effects," "Magic Mike") and Bennett Miller ("Foxcatcher"), and that’s not to mention becoming the star of franchises like "G.I. Joe" and "21 Jump Street." And so, don’t be surprised that the Coens have tapped the actor for their next film.
Indeed, the Coens have rounded up Tatum, Tilda Swinton and Ralph Fiennes to join George Clooney in "Hail Caesar." The story will follow a fixer in the 1950s who works for Hollywood studios to protect their stars, with Tatum to play a Gene Kelly-esque actor, Fiennes a studio director named Laurence Lorenz and Swinton as a powerful gossip columnist (awesome). It will be Tatum and Fiennes’ first time in the Coen world, and Swinton’s second following "Burn After Reading." THR‘s report is curiously missing Josh Brolin who was announced a couple weeks ago, so we wonder if he’s still in the film or if he’s slipped through.
With or without him, this cast is shaping up really nicely and we can’t wait to see what comes of it, and who else from the Coens extensive Rolodex they’ll call up.
