Up until earlier this year, I'd be lying if I proclaimed myself a Channing Tatum fan. SHE'S THE MAN, STEP UP, STOP-LOSS, FIGHTING, G.I. JOE and DEAR JOHN aren't exactly the easiest films to establish yourself with, but then again, everyone has to start somewhere. With HAYWIRE and 21 JUMP STREET, a far more charismatic and a definitely less wooden Channing Tatum arrived on the scene, and, adding in his performance as the titular character in MAGIC MIKE, he may have turned over a new leaf as far as his acting goes, with each performance now showing improvement.
What you see in-person with Tatum is quite similar to the character he displays in MAGIC MIKE. He's got a lot of personality ready to be unleashed, which is something we haven't gotten used to seeing in films like THE VOW, where his good looks are relied upon to carry favor with the ladies who come to see his films. He's been able to get by on his appearance for now, but with range being developed in his acting, he's become someone to keep an eye on rather than someone you may have been less than enthusiastic about when you see they're involved in a movie. 2012 seems like the year the perception of Channing Tatum has begun to shift dramatically.
I got to sit down with Tatum for just a couple of minutes at the beginning of the MAGIC MIKE press tour to talk about the film, and try to get some knowledge from him as to what's really going on with G.I. JOE: RETALIATION. Our time was short yet sweet, so enjoy...
The Infamous Billy the Kidd - So, is the stripping and dancing like riding a bike? Because you did this when you were younger and now when you hit the stage, does it just come back to you? Do you get the feel for it again?
Channing Tatum - Dancing? Yeah, I mean, I’ve always danced. I mean, I’ve danced since I was a kid. I think my mom even tells a story that...she took me to see BREAKIN’ and like... I was a kid, man, I was young-young. I must have been like nine years old or even younger than that and she said that I dropped down in the middle of the aisle and started trying to do a headspin. And I wouldn’t stop, and everyone was crowding around and cheering me on and stuff, so I’ve always loved dancing, I really have. This dancing is a little... a little different. You’re doing it kind of on someone, so it’s a little more strange. I remember right before I went to do my first... Matt Bomer went first. Like, of all the dancers, he went up first, and I was nervous for him, because you’re in front of 250 women. He’s never done anything like this, and I’ve been the only one... and I was nervous, every single time I went out, so it’s not quite like riding a bike, but the dance moves are there. You just sort of have to get it back into the like...
The Kidd - Into the groove.
Channing Tatum - Yeah, and just be like, “Well, doing this again. This is so stupid, why am I doing this?”
The Kidd - Magic Mike has sort of this long term plan that the stripping is kind of a means to an end, to get the the dream, to what he wants to really do. In your experience, when you did this, before you became and actor and dancer and what not, how many guys who are in the business kind of see it that way, or how many kind of just get sucked in like, "This is what I’m doing"? It’s kind of a stuck position as opposed to someone who’s stripping their way through college or to...
Channing Tatum - Yeah... I don’t know, I think it’s different for everyone. I think the guys that came before me... I think stripping was bigger, like the dawn of Chippendales, in the 80s and 90s. People probably did it back then thinking it was going to be a full career, like they were going to do it for the rest of their lives. I think my generation is sort of... I did it like eight months, at max, maybe even shorter. I never thought I was going to do it for very long, it was just a crazy time. I was 18 years of age and I was just like, "That sounds like the craziest thing I can go and find to do." And I did it, and it was never going to be what I was going to do forever, and... I enjoyed it, I’m not gonna lie. It was an insane time in my life, and I got to do it, but I’m glad I got out. I’m glad I got to sort of... Because I know a lot of guys that, you know, they didn’t know what to do with their lives. A lot, like you do, you get out of college and even you’re like, “Okay, I got this degree, I don’t even really know what to do with it.” Or you don’t go to college, and you’re like, “What do I do now?” So you’re like working a construction job or something, and then you’re like, "Okay, maybe I’ll make a little extra money for two hours a night, and go home." So it never was for me... never a future.
The Kidd - Because I know this is kind of really out there right now, is dealing with G.I. JOE: RETALIATION, which I think you’d agree would be kind of strange... is kind of strange because of how close to release date the studio then kind of pulled it.
Channing Tatum - Yeah, completely.
The Kidd - The running joke, I guess, is now that any film that gets delayed is to add more 3D and more Channing Tatum. So I just kind of wanted to know, at least going in, there’s been talks of doing some reshoots with your character more in it and adding the 3D. [Channing laughs] What is kind of going on with G.I. JOE: RETALIATION?
Channing Tatum - This is the honest truth. They haven’t even called me for anything yet, so I know that people are sending me the articles and stuff. I haven’t heard a peep from them. I did one little reshoot that was added onto the beginning of the movie. I haven’t heard... nothing. So, I’m sort of in the dark. I wish I knew more, to be totally honest, just because it’s something that helped my career in the beginning, so I’m interested to know what they’re doing with it. I haven’t seen the movie, so when I got the thing, like, the internet thing, I was just like, “What? This it the weirdest.” I don’t know.
The Kidd - It is very bizarre. It was literally like a month out and all of a sudden they’re like "Next year."
Channing Tatum - Yeah, because I was like, “What?” This was coming out on the same weekend, and that was weird, so I don’t know if that was better or worse, but then TED moved onto our date and I was like, "Damn it, that’s not what I want to move on our date," because I kinda wanted to see TED. So now I’m not seeing it. Sorry, Mark.
The Kidd - Thank you very much.
Channing Tatum - Cool, man.
After we were forced to wrap, Tatum was genuinely interested in my thoughts on the film, curious as to how it played for me since, as a straight guy, I'm not really their target audience. I think we've yet to see the best of Channing Tatum in films, but, between 21 JUMP STREET and MAGIC MIKE, it's a start. If he can bring this likeable charm to screens that he has in-person (and it is starting to show a whole lot more lately), he'll continue to grow as an actor... one who is only getting better.
MAGIC MIKE opens this Friday, June 29.
-Billy Donnelly
"The Infamous Billy The Kidd"
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