As we mentioned Jack Manly may have omitted several deserving hunks from our year-end listings, but we're not going to wait until the end of 2008 to correct those oversights. And this way we get to spend just a little more time on some of our favorites.

  Since his name came up this past week in casting news, we thought it was way overdue to mention another of our favorites Channing Tatum.  He's been cast in the starring role of  "Duke" in G.I. Joe. You might be surprised to learn that this has been a coveted role by many action film stars the past few years so we are very happy to see they gave it to Channing Tatum.  His career seems to be on a meteoric rise lately and he's got quite a few other high profile movies coming up.

             
  One of those high profile movies is Stop-Loss which was filmed awhile ago yet has been on the shelf and will finally be released this March. It stars Ryan Phillippe (again in uniform) in a story about a soldier who returns home from Iraq along with his combat buddy (Channing Tatum) and how they and their fellow vets readjust to civilian life.  And this all gets complicated further when Phillippe's character is redeployed against his will. The buzz on this one has been good and those pics of the cast on location engaging in often shirtless male bonding have made their rounds online for months.

 Also coming up this year is Fighting where Channing Tatum plays a ticket scalper who gets involved in the world of underground street fighting. Sounds sexy and hot, eh? Channing has also been cast in Michael Mann's 1920s gangster epic Public Enemies--playing Pretty Boy Floyd. This one also stars Johnny Depp as John Dillinger and Christian Bale as G-Man Melvin Purvis.  Sounds like an A + F version of The Untouchables.

 Channing Tatum has an interesting background that seems to have helped him land the interesting variety of roles he's gotten. He grew up in a large rural Southern family and later went to a military academy where he excelled in sports. He got into club dancing which certainly had some part in his landing his breakthrough role in Step Up. Then came a modeling career and we all know that his striking look helped sell clothes for Nautica, Abercrombie and Fitch, etc. Conversely this former country boy has also played his share of street toughs in several movies including the critically well-received A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints. 

  Yes, Channing Tatum is straight and last we checked still dating Jenna Dewan, his Step Up co-star. We can tell you that they live in West Hollywood and we've heard are down to earth and friendly to just about everyone they meet and know. Channing Tatum may indeed become a really big star given the roles he's getting, but we're very happy to see that he's still as accessible as ever. And that includes pictures and all sorts of fan sites that are available to all you web surfers.