RUMOR OR REEL?: Channing Tatum’s ‘Knockout’ Gets New Name and Release Date

According to The Playlist, Channing Tatum’s action-revenge spy thriller, previously called ‘Knockout‘, has been renamed and is now set for a January 2011 release.

The film, which is directed by Steven Soderbergh (‘Erin Brockovich‘, ‘Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve‘, ‘Ocean’s Thirteen‘), had a screening last week, after which attendee Rich Eisen tweeted…

“Saw the new Soderbergh movie “Haywire” the other night. Comes out in January. Already can’t wait to see it again. It’s THAT good.”

If the release date part of this rumor is true, Chan potentially will have three different movies in theaters all at the same time…’Knockout‘/’Haywire‘ (January 2011), the comedy ‘Cheaters‘ (January 14, 2011) and his Roman drama ‘Eagle of the Ninth‘ (February 25, 2011).

For those who don’t know, ‘Knockout‘/’Haywire‘ stars Mixed Martial Arts champion Gina Carano as a black ops spy that is betrayed by her team and goes rogue in an attempt to figure out who’s setting her up. While everyone is on the same side initially, the film supposedly features a lot of duplicity, double crosses, and reversals of allegiances.

Chan (who filmed his role in Barcelona, Spain and New Mexico this past February and March) will play one of the elite specialists on Carano’s team. His character is a military gearhead-type who’s sent to try and bring her back in once she’s been double-crossed.

The incredible supporting cast also includes Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Angarano, and Mathieu Kassovitz. Fassbender reportedly plays an untrustworthy teammate, while Douglas ultimately proves to be an ally. McGregor, the owner of the Blackwater-type special ops team (and once a romantic interest to Carano), is instrumental in trying to make her character, Mallory Kane, take the fall for an incident that goes wrong and involves a murder.

Although I can’t confirm the ‘Haywire‘ rumor, I can share new pics of Jenna and Chan with some of their friends…

Jamie Linden (who wrote the ‘Dear John‘ screenplay) directed a film short that Chan and Jenna worked on yesterday and told me the photos are from a “test shoot for a pet project we’ve been kicking around for awhile”. The shoot included friends and fellow actors Haylie Duff, Nick Zano, ‘The Hurt Locker‘s Brian Geraghty (Jenna’s ‘Love Lies Bleeding‘ co-star), and Kate Mara.

Below, fans can check out the new pics Jenna and Haylie tweeted to fans yesterday…

For now, that’s all we’re allowed to know about the shoot. Any more details and Jamie would have had to kill me. OK not really, but it almost does work like that in Hollywood. Projects have to stay very hush-hush until you’re really ready to expose them to the world. Stay tuned to CTU, and I’ll make sure to let you all know when and if there’s more to report on this particular project.

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