Channing Tatum seems to be having a tough time filming the third in his “Magic Mike” male-stripper series in London, with a new report on Monday saying he “thrown a tantrum” at a posh restaurant. Other diners accused him of taking photos and had them kicked out of the restaurant.
Page Six cited a report by UK tabloid The Sun that Tatum was eating at Restaurant Louie’s in Covent Garden when he saw a group of six others enjoying a meal and taking pictures of each other .
“Channing thought they were taking pictures of her and angrily stuck her middle finger on them,” the source said. “Next thing, maitre d’ was telling them to leave.”
A representative for the seemingly affable star of “The Lost City” did not immediately return a request for comment to Page Six. A manager of the restaurant declined to comment.
This reported conflict follows another report from Page Six last month, which said that Thandive Newton, Tatum’s co-star in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance,” had suffered some sort of mental disorder. The report said that he had to leave the film to go back to Los Angeles for treatment.
Sun also claimed that he and Tatum had an “unimaginably vicious” fight after Newton’s departure. A member of the crew told The Sun that the fight was accompanied by a “debacle at the Oscars”, seemingly referring to Chris Rock’s onstage slap of Will Smith.
The source also told The Sun that there was “a tense exchange of words” that escalated suddenly, causing Tatum to jump in his car and “disappear.” The Sun did not specify whether Newton or Tatum took a particular side in the Smith/Rock controversy.
Crew members also told The Sun that Newton was “very demanding” on set. “Everyone on the set found her challenging to work with,” said a crew member. “She’s a complete diva.”
Insiders insisted to Page Six that Newton’s departure from “Magic Mike” had less to do with any heated exchanges between him and Tatum, and more to do with their personal family matters.
“A lot is going on in her personal life, she and her husband have parted ways,” the source added. “She seemed so stressed out, she even brought her two pet rabbits to her hotel for emotional support.”
Newton’s husband is English writer, director and producer Ol Parker. Together, they share two daughters, 22 and 18, and an 8-year-old son.
A Warner Bros. spokesperson released a statement to Variety, confirming that Newton’s exit is at least related to personal, “family matters.”
“Thandive Newton has made the difficult decision to move away from producing ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ at Warner Bros. Pictures to deal with family matters,” the statement read.
Salma Hayek has since taken over the role of Newton in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance”. Little is known about the third film in the “Magic Mike” series, other than that it will be directed by Steven Soderbergh, who directed the first “Magic Mike” film in 2012.
Tatum told the New York Times in March that the third film would be “pretty bonkers” but would include “a lot of dancing” and would “tell the reverse-roll ‘Pretty Woman’ story.”
“We’re swinging for the fence — there doesn’t need to be another stripper movie after this,” Tatum said.
