Channing Tatum has always looked at the bigger picture. His early career as a male stripper allowed him to pay for college and take acting classes on the side. After making his mark as a hunkish Hollywood action star, he decided to start producing his own films, which resulted in the hit films 22 Jump Street, Magic Mike, Logan Lucky, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle.
For the 41-year-old Alabama-born actor, it's a case of quality, not quantity, when selecting movie roles. For him, contentment comes from a place of feeling valuable rather than busy.
Perhaps that's a consequence of having attention deficit disorder as a youngster. As a teenager, Tatum was pushed by his family to excel at sports in order to combat his disability. He later became a top football player and attended university in West Virginia and later in Florida on a full athletic scholarship. Tatum also worked as a stripper for two years and would later turn that experience into the Magic Mike movies. He"s launched the Magic Mike strip show in Las Vegas.
In 2022, Tatum is back with Dog, a road trip comedy from the K9 stable about two army veterans, one man, and his dog, who bond. Tatum directs, produces, and stars in the movie.
In The Lost City, he is also in adventure mode alongside Sandra Bullock, a big-budget comedy adventure that sees Sandra Bullock's fictional novel come to life. Ably supported by Tatum, as cover model Alan who assumes the persona of the lead man in the author's book, the pair embark and find themselves on a trek through the jungle after Bullock is kidnapped by eccentric billionaire Fairfax (Daniel Radcliffe).
As spring approaches, the movie has all the tools to be a feel-good flick with a cameo from Brad Pitt.
Tatum lives in the Hollywood Hills. He was previously married to Jenna Dewan (The Mindy Project, Witches of East End), who he met on the set of the dance movie Step Up in 2006. They are parents to their eight-year-old daughter, Everly.
Most recently, he was in relationships with Jessie J and Zoe Kravitz.
STRIPLV: The Lost City has all the feel of Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. Is that a fair comparison? TATUM: It is, and I think that was a big part of the intention. I feel like the superhero genre has taken us away from the idea of setting action movies in real places, particularly when it comes to jungles. That whole genre has almost made a prescription for the modern film. In contrast, we had perfectly good and hugely successful movies such as Romancing the Stone, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Mummy, Jumanji, and others, where this brilliant setting could be played out by good mechanics and a good storyline. You don't always need green screens. So I think; definitely, the intention is to refresh that genre, and that feels very exciting. We're almost turning back the clock to a very original time for moviemaking, with films that have stood the test of time, but of course, we're doing it in our own way as well. STRIPLV: This is the first time you've worked with Brad? TATUM: Yes, and it was fun. He has risen to become this icon in the movie world, and when you get to that level, you need only do very small things to make very big impressions. He just came into the movie, did his bit – which is only a small cameo role, and left, but in that time, he filled the set with laughter and entertainment. He makes even the most difficult things seem very easy. STRIPLV: And partnering Sandra? TATUM: I was just bowled over by her willingness to embrace the whole thing. Look, at the heart of it, it's a comedy movie. It's silly in places, and that's fine, but that requires silliness from the people who are in it, and that's sometimes more difficult to achieve than you would imagine. Sometimes even the funniest movies can be quite argumentative, stressful environments. What we had here was perfect in many ways because Sandra went after it from day one, as did we all. STRIPLV: You seem to be taking a philosophical view of your movies in the current era. TATUM: It's a learning process, and you evolve what you do every step of the way. It's interesting, and I think I learned more on Logan Lucky than I did about any other movie. It was almost a line in the sand for me because it gave me a bigger appreciation of what movies should represent, and that was only heightened by the global pandemic when the whole thing shut down. Logan Lucky taught me that good moviemaking isn't about the cameras, the sets, the directors, or even the actors. It's about the people and the characters that you're able to discover through them. That's what is genuinely important. STRIPLV: Who has impressed and inspired you most along the way? TATUM: I would have to say, Steven Soderbergh. Without his advice and guidance, I don't know whether I would still be acting today. I've known him for a long time, and he's taught me so much about filmmaking and so many aspects of the creative process. When I met him, I was still trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my career, and he helped to rethink a lot of things, and that enabled me to go in a different direction to where I wanted to be. He's a very smart and generous man and also one of the best directors in the business. What struck me is he doesn't micromanage you. Instead, he gives you the freedom you need, and he empowers you to bring whatever ideas you have to your work. He's the kind of director who allows you to use your inspiration and let that flow into your performance. STRIPLV: How ambitious do you feel these days? TATUM: I think I'm becoming more ambitious the more movies I've been able to do and seeing what the potential there is to be creative and imaginative. I want to direct, which is why Dog is such an exciting break for me, but it still seems like a lot of the movies I'm doing as an actor are getting in the way. (Laughs) But I'm not wasting my time. Every time I work on a movie, especially when I'm the producer, it is an education. Making movies is a very difficult job. To get it right is even harder, and it can take several years before you've got a story and script that you feel is right. STRIPLV: You have a massive female following. Do you ever think of yourself as a sex symbol? TATUM: I think it's important to be interesting and do interesting work as an actor. Even with the Magic Mike movies, the idea was to combine humor with the sexy side of the story. You always want to be part of a good story and entertain audiences. STRIPLV: So, looking forward, Magic Mike is back for one last hurrah? TATUM: I had always been someone who says never say never, but in this instance, I really thought we had signed it off. I didn't see it working, and I didn't want to have to think about working out that hard again. Or stop eating everything I love. I didn't think I could do that to myself, but perhaps I can. STRIPLV: How tough is the diet regime going to be? TATUM: I think I'm in reasonable shape at the moment, so I'm halfway there anyway. During the last movie, what I found the hardest was being on set while the crew were going at craft services, like those people kill me on set. They eat all the stuff in front of you and staring at you while they're doing it. It was torture. I thought bad things about them. Although I thought bad things about the food too. (Laughs) STRIPLV: How's fatherhood treating you now? TATUM: Great, so great. She's great. She's a wonderful kid. Life is good. I'm so lucky. Fatherhood has been one of the most important events in my life. Maybe that's an obvious kind of thing to say, but you definitely do feel a different sense of responsibility towards everything. I'm a very ambitious person, and my life has been so involved with my work and trying to develop projects as well as find the best films to be part of as an actor, but now I've definitely adjusted my focus. I want to experience everything about my daughter's world and be fully involved in watching her grow and discover things. STRIPLV: What's the most challenging adjustment you've had to make? TATUM: You need to learn patience. It also affects your sleep at the beginning, and your relationship with your wife changes because now your world revolves much more around your baby. But it's still the most beautiful thing in the world to hold your child in the air and look at her and just enjoy the moment of watching her smile and laugh at you. STRIPLV: We ask the ladies this, but it's the same for the men? How are you balancing work with home? TATUM: You know, it's very much impacting on my choices. Now I think, 'is this job worth being away from them?' That's the only consideration. I want to be there as much as I can; home is the priority. STRIPLV: You have a busy period coming up, but on the whole, you seem to be slowing things down? TATUM: If it feels right, I may go for it. I did get the sense it was time to slow things down a little. I love my job, I do, and the creativity and response, but I liken it to a treadmill that you're always on, and you don't get to enjoy it. Enjoy the spoils. There was one point where I did four movies back-to-back, and you start to question if you gave your all to each of them. And I don't want it to get to that place again. I want to spread it around a little more. Just step off the treadmill and take and breath, which is definitely something I'm looking towards. That's the only way you can begin to point yourself in the direction of deeper and more challenging roles. All my life, I've tried to learn step-by-step and build from one film to another, trying to raise my level each time out. I've always had the desire to keep evolving as a man and as an actor, and I feel I'm just starting to reach some of the goals I've set for myself. STRIPLV: You've overcome a lot in your life. Where do you think things stand right now for you? TATUM: I'm very happy and very grateful for what I've been able to achieve. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years thinking that I wasn't smart and that feeling very isolated in a lot of ways because I didn't do well at school. Then after I had worked as a stripper and model and started working as an actor, people would put me in a certain category, and I wasn't given much respect. All my life, I've been underestimated. All my life! That instills in you this desire to prove everyone wrong and show the world what you can do. I like being seen as an overachiever! (Laughs)