It seems that the makers of G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra are decidedly going for an over-the-top tone, and the latest interview with Channing Tatum, who stars as Duke, seems to confirm that. Tatum spoke to SCI FI Wire about the film where he discussed the tone, overacting and some in-jokes aimed at fans of the G.I. Joe action figures.

When asked how one handles working on a film when you can't take the content seriously, Tatum answered "You kind of find it. It's weird, and you laugh at it. It's the only way to really do it. I don't know anyone that wasn't laughing on the set all the time on G.I. Joe. Especially, Marlon Wayans is my partner in the movie, and we laughed through the entire thing. I'm sitting there looking at a green screen like, "RIPCOOOORD! NOOOO!" Stuff like that, and you're just like, "What am I doing?" Or you're like, "You get the rockets, I'll get the nanomites. Wait a minute, what are nanomites?" I don't know what's going on, but you're just having fun with it. You just pray. Pray, pray, pray that they get a good take in all the slew of things, because you don't know what anything looks like. You can only trust your director, and that's it."

Tatum continued "I was afraid of overacting, but that's what you can't be afraid of. You don't have to overact. I was the guy they'd have to pull it out of me. I'm like, 'No, man, it just feels too bad. I can't do it.' He's like, 'Just trust me. Promise me you're going to do it, and then I promise you I won't use the take if it's not right.' Then I'm like, 'OK.'" Amazingly, Tatum then said "You see it back now. I haven't seen the movie, but I've seen [it while doing additional dialogue recording], and it fits. You can't believe it. You thought you were just the worst actor on the planet."

Finally, Tatum addressed the line that he never thought anyone would say with a straight face. "Marlon had a line that was like, 'And a kung fu grip.' Because all the Joes had a kung fu grip. He had to say that about somebody that grabbed him. He was like, 'Oh, he's got a kung fu grip.' I was like, 'That ain't ever gonna work. That's never, ever going to be in the movie,' and it's in the movie, and it works a little bit. All the fan boys will be like, 'Yeah!' And anybody that doesn't know about the kung fu grip will be like, 'Oh, whatever, it's just what he chose to say right then.'"

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is scheduled for an August 7, 2009 release. The film stars Ray Parks, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, Said Taghmaoui, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Marlon Wayans, Channing Tatum, Dennis Quiad, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Arnold Vosloo, Karolina Isela Kurkov, Byung Hun Lee and Christopher Eccleston.