Channing Tatum – Young and Eager

 December 2011 By Philip Berk

How do you explain the appeal of Channing Tatum?

Is it his aw-shucks personality?

Granted he’s handsome in a strongly masculine way.

But he’s also lumbering, lugubrious,

Insecure…

I guess it all adds up to carnal sex appeal.

But if you told him that, he’d blush.

His latest, The Vow, continues his string of chick flick successes.

Q: How confident is he these days?

A: I don’t know if confident will ever be in my vocabulary. I think ‘ready’ is more accurate… I’m really ready now. 

Q: When was he first made aware of it?

A: When I got to audition for the Coen brothers even though I was almost 15 years too young for the part. It was for No Country for Old Men.  I just wanted to go in and read with them;  I knew as soon as I left that room, that I’d be a better actor by just being in the same room with them. That sort of turned a corner for me. It wasn’t about the job. It wasn’t about the result of what I was doing. It was about you. I didn’t have formal training. This is my acting and film school. Like, every single day talking with actors, talking with directors, producers. I don’t know if I’m getting more confident or if I’m just getting more like interested and ready for  that challenge.

Q: You’ve worked twice with Steve Soderbergh, one of Hollywood’s most respected directors What did you learn from him?

A: For Soderbergh it’s just problem solving. That’s all it is. You just sit there and you have a problem and you’ve got to fix it in the best, most honest way for yourself and for the overall group.  Soderbergh of course is really cocksure. He’s like a fighter pilot, He’s never afraid.

Q: Your next movie for him about a male stripper is quite provocative. Is it autobiographical?

A: Not autobiographical even though everybody knows that I was a male stripper?

Q: So how did it come about?

A: While we were making Haywire, we were just sitting over a beer. Because he shoots on digital, after a day’s filming, everybody goes to the hotel, you sit around the bar, everybody’s sipping the drinks, and then all of a sudden, his assistant will set down his computer. And Stephen edits that day’s footage, in the bar, hanging out with everybody. It’s one of the most outstanding things I’ve ever seen in my life. So over a beer while he was editing, I told him that I was a stripper for eight months when I was 18 and 19,  and he’s like, “Wow, that would make a great movie.” And he’s like, “You should write it.” And I was like, “Ok, Steven Soderbergh, I’ll write it. No problem. Let me get right on that.” I’d never written anything, wouldn’t even know how to start. So cut to four months later, my producing partner and I started to get things cooking. We showed Stephen the draft, we sat down, ironically enough at Carney’s on Sunset, and over a hot dog, literally, we made the deal. He was like, “Look, you should write it with your buddy. I’ll direct it. You should act in it. And we’ll both finance it. We wanted it to be an in-house thing, so we could do what we wanted to.

Q: You play the mentor not the young kid?

A: Yeah. But it’s really not autobiographical whatsoever. The only thing that matches up with my story is that he’s a 19 year old kid. He has a sister. And he played football. And that’s it. The things that happen in the story never happened. We took liberties with that. The things that actually happened we couldn’t put in a movie.  That would get an X rating (he jokes.)

The movie is titled Magic Mike.

Q: What did you have to do to get in shape to appear nude ?

A: I did not go to a nude beach but that would have been a good idea! (again he jokes)That would have been awesome. I’m sure the paparazzi would have had fun with that.

Q: How about at home?

A:  I actually did give my wife a dance. To sort of warm up. But that was just for fun. Our challenge was to make it as tasteful as possible. But we needn’t have worried about that because Soderbergh just wasn’t going to do that. 

Q: So it’s a G rated version?

A: Not at all. It’s got shocking moments. You’re going to see barely naked men and you’re going to see barely naked women in it as well. And it really dives into that world. But not so much of the grotesque sexual stuff. That’s there. The drugs are there. You get to go inside a male strip club. Even my guy friends wondered, “What is that like?” So that’s why we decided to make the film. It gives you a clear window into what that world is like. It’s not like a female strip club. It’s a little more  seedier. And a little more real. Guys really make fools of themselves on stage, and try to embarrass the women as much as they can possibly do. Because bachelorettes come in and birthday girls, you really want to embarrass them, so their friends might laugh. And then they tip you a little bit of money. You don’t even make that much. 150-bucks, 200-bucks at most, a night.  That’s it. Unlike strip clubs where girls make thousands of dollars.

Q: In Haywire you played opposite Mixed Martial Arts fighter Gina Carano.  Rachel McAdams in The Vow is more feminine . Which do you prefer?

(Being the Southern gentleman, he measures his response)

A: For me it’s a balance. I don’t want a pushover, and I don’t want someone that’s going to beat me up every day.  I need somebody that walks the line. 

Q: How did your wife (Jenna Dewan) react to Gina’s physicality?

A: After being on set and seeing Gina fight and what not, she really wants to do action movies one day. She was getting me to teach her how to do a movie punch. And my wife is very, very athletic. She’s probably a better athlete than I am.

Q: She’s also a great dancer (they met and fell in love while making Step Up.)  

A: Yeah, so her torque and twist was a little faster than I could move my head. And she punched me directly in the face. And I was like, “That’s it. That is the last lesson that you’re getting. You’re not getting any more. You’re going to have to go to Gina because I’m not going to do it anymore.”

He laughs.  

Q: Any plans to work together again?

A: I’d like to see her do something like Red Sonja or something from the Conan stories, something in that vein. I think she would kill in it.

Q: Do you believe in love ever after like in The Vow?

A: Before I fell in love with Jenna, I’d definitely loved other people in my life. But when Jenna came along, she was far beyond and outshone any other love that I ever had. Is there only one person for you? If you find the one that’s right for you. It’s just about finding the perfect one.

Q:  What is the most romantic thing you’ve ever done?

A: Oh god… The one I always cite. It was my wife’s birthday. She was my girlfriend at the time. I told her, we’re going to go to dinner.  I blindfolded her. And we just showed up at the airport. I had packed her bag and we went away for the week. So that was my favorite thing I’ve done.

Q: When exactly did you blindfold her?

A:  At her apartment actually; she thought we were going to dinner. She had partied the night before, for her birthday as well. And she was a little hung over. And she was like, “Oh God, I do not want to go to dinner.” But she went anyways. I put headphones on her. So she couldn’t like hear if a plane was coming over. I played her some of our songs and then we drove to the airport. And then, I un-blindfolded her. And she was like, “What… Where are we at?” She was like, “Are you taking me to kill me? Is this going to end bloody?” Cause we were driving for a long time. It’s  a long drive from Hollywood to the airport”