Channing Tatum & Weinstein Set Mike Vukadinovich To Write ‘Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock’

EXCLUSIVE: Channing Tatum and the Weinstein Company have set Mike Vukadinovich to write Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock, the feature project that sees Tatum make his directorial debut alongside Reid Carolin. The project is an adaptation of Matthew Quick’s YA book of the same name about a high school student who plans to kill his best friend and then himself.

In addition to co-directing and co-producing his Free Association banner and along with the company’s Peter Kiernan, Tatum would also potentially star as a brave teacher who tries to intervenes.

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock sees the Weinsteins re-unite with Silver Linings Playbook author Quick. The spate of tragic school shootings — most recently a campus shooting in Oregon last week that left eight students and an assistant professor dead — makes the project all the more relevant and timely.

There is no set date for start of production but the project is believed to be a priority for Tatum, who drew critical kudos with his dramatic turn in Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher opposite Mark Ruffalo. The 22 Jump Street star is also meeting with directors for Gambit, the X-Men spinoff that Fox will finance and release.

Vukadinovich has Pinocchio prequel The Three Misfortunes Of Gepetto set at Fox and also The Wind In The Willows adaptation Mr Toad’s Wild Ride set up at Disney. He is repped by Verve and Industry Entertainment.

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