Tatum jumps into Parkour picture

Richie Smyth to direct New Line's heist drama

By MICHAEL FLEMING

Tatum

New Line is planning production early next year on an untitled drama about Parkour -- a free-jumping extreme sport in which agile practitioners run and jump from rooftops -- with Richie Smyth making his feature helming bow and Channing Tatum to star.

Scripted by Kevin Lund and T.J. Scott, the drama revolves around a pair of jumpers who use their skills in heists.

Parkour was featured in the opening sequence of "Casino Royale."

The film will be produced by Temple Hill partners Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey.

Smyth directed four musicvids off U2's most recent album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" and is an avid extreme sports practitioner. To audition for the job, he canceled a trip in which he was to jump out of a helicopter at the top of a mountain in Alaska and snowboard to the bottom.