Channing Tatum takes on Dear John
Channing Tatum isn’t afraid to show a little humility. Lately, he has been making headlines for an onset accident while filming "The Eagle of the Ninth" that involved boiling water and his package. Details Magazine made a cover story out of the anecdote for their current issue. The Alabama native is taking it all in stride, though.
"He made a little bit of a meal out of it, I think. It’s hilarious to me. I wouldn’t have shown the pictures if I didn’t think it was," Tatum said about the story. Fans shouldn’t be worried; the former model is back and better than ever. "Made it through, back 100% percent. You know, we’re good."
It’s that ability to laugh at himself, even in the face of personal injury, that has helped make Tatum an up an coming actor who is everyone either wants to date or (since marrying longtime girlfriend Jenna Dewan) settling on at least being his best friend.
While stopping in Philadelphia as part of the promotional tour for his latest film Dear John, Tatum talked to EDGE about his own love life, what it was like to play another military role and how this film is a milestone in his career.
Another military man
With Dear John"Tatum completes a series of military characters. His first came with 2008’s Stop-Loss and continued with last year’s special ops in G.I. Joe. He will play another soldier, albeit a Roman one, in the upcoming The Eagle of the Ninth. The actor, who has never served in the armed forces, is characteristically humble when asked about the attraction to playing these characters.
"I kind of joke that I think I just had a shaved head and a thick neck from playing football," joked Tatum. But seriously, he adds, "You have to love your characters and I love every single one of the soldiers that do what they do. I don’t, even for a second, try to give an illusion that I even know half of what it feels like to be a soldier ’cause I don’t know. I have no clue and I don’t think anyone who hasn’t been one will ever know. I just try to really wear the clothes right and sling the gun right and not try to make them look like an idiot."
When it came to doing research for the role, Tatum didn’t have to look far during the filming of Dear John. The plot of the tearjerker revolves around a relationship between Tatum’s character John and Savannah, played by Mamma Mia star Amanda Seyfried, who meet while he is on a two-week leave from the military. They continue their relationship via letter writing. The production used real military personnel to fill out John’s unit. It was through talking with those guys that the actor was able to better understand the significance of receiving mail while deployed.
"My whole unit, pretty much except for maybe four actors, were actual Special Forces and I did get to talk to them for the whole film that we were together about what it is to be away from somebody that long and how they communicate. You do it every way you possibly can, through mail, e-mails, through phone calls," Tatum explained. "They said getting an actual letter; it’s kind of like Christmas -- you know a little bit of home that actually made it to you. It smells like her or smells like home. It’s her handwriting or it’s his handwriting and they just kept going on about that it’s just a little piece of home." Story continues on the following page.
Watch the trailer for Dear John:
