Director Randall Wallace's last effort Secretariat didn't really pan out the way either he or the studio expected, grossing just $46 million so far and distinctly not turning into this year's The Blind Side. But he's got his eye on the future, like any good director does, though in this particular instance he may be heading to the past. Vulture reports that Wallace is putting together the indie drama Love and Honor, set during the mid-18th century reign of Russian czarina Catherine the Great, with Channing Tatum attached to play an American soldier.
Yes, you read that right, an American soldier. Tatum's character is a Virginian sent by Benjamin Franklin to Russia in order to talk Catherine out of sending her troops to his shores in support of the British in the forthcoming American Revolution. He poses as an Englishman, though, offering his services in support of her army, though it's only a matter of time before he's got her in bed-- he is Channing Tatum after all, so how can you blame her? Angelina Jolie had at one point been attached to play Catherine, and there's an offer out to Anne Hathaway to play an attendant in the court who is Tatum's actual love interest, but no one other than Tatum is actually involved.
Wallace is at the American Film Market trying to get financiers interested, and with a star like Tatum attached he should get some bites, though Tatum also has a lot of other things on his plate. Historical drama seems like a bit of a stretch for the G.I. Joe actor, but I've always been interested in his work and feel like he hasn't quite reached his full potential, so maybe this is the vehicle to get him there? With the right actress cast as Catherine the project could come together as something really worthwhile.
