Perhaps realizing that the road to a possible Oscar nomination is paved with shattered glass from a mirror he just headbutted, Channing Tatum says he plans to spend more time directing in the coming years. The first project on his docket is an adaptation of the young-adult novel Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock for the Weinstein Company, which he will co-direct with frequent producing partner Reid Carolin. The novel, written by Matthew Quick (who also wrote the novel Silver Linings Playbook), examines a troubled high schooler who plans to kill his best friend and then himself. Tatum likely will star as a heroic teacher who intervenes, which may sound like a spoiler, but we don’t know exactly how he intervenes (more head butts would probably work). Tatum and Carolin also are set to co-direct the crime thriller The Son, based on a novel by Jo Nesbo, for Warner Brothers.
Despite his directing plans, we’ll still see plenty of Tatum in front of the camera. Besides Foxcatcher (currently in theaters), he has just wrapped shooting on Magic Mike XXL, is currently in production on the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar!, is preparing for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight, and will eventually play Gambit in his own X-Men spinoff. You can see him next wearing rocket boots and fake ears in the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending, due in theaters in February 2015.