Channing Tatum Covers OUT: Only Women & Gay Men Will See Magic Mike
Channing Tatum (the Charming Potato, according to some) covers a couple of magazines this week promoting Steven Soderbergh-directed Magic Mike. Which is, essentially, about Tatum’s past as the kind of stripper who danced with his socks on after removing everything else.
The stripping came to light a few years back in the tabloids, and Tatum never shyed away from it and he even relived one strip tease for Ellen DeGeneres. He’s been forthcoming, and good humoured, about something that hasn’t harmed his career at all. And now he’s doing a whole movie about it, co-starring Matthew McConaughey, Matt Bomer, and Joe Manganiello who are together on a cover for Entertainment Weekly that’s included below.
In his interview with OUT Magazine June/ July 2012, Tatum, 32, says he never enjoyed the stripping part of stripping (is there another part?), he’s aware of the demo coming to see this movie, and, after eight years as an actor, he finally “gets it.”
On his stripper movie, Magic Mike: “It’s risky. People say that women and the gay community will go see it, knock on wood, but I know straight guys won’t be like, ‘Yo, what’s up man; you wanna go see the stripping movie after the game tonight?’ I doubt they’ll have the balls to see it. What’s funny is that the girls don’t ask me questions about my stripping days, but straight guys want to know everything. It’s that fantasy element. It’s probably why a lot of females on Halloween are the whorey version of a ketchup bottle, or slutty nurse, which I love and respect; it’s liberating.”
On being a stripper in Tampa, FL at the age of 19: “I was definitely looking for something to take me into the dark side,” he says. “You learn something about yourself, you learn about men, women, you see a lot of depressing shit, people that are lost. But at the same time, the dark side can be exciting. It can feel like you’re cheating death every night.”
On baring almost all for the job: “I never enjoyed the taking the clothes off part. You are on a stage with people yelling at you, and you feel you’re a rock star, but you’re nothing ; you’re just a guy taking off his clothes, looking like a fool in a stupid outfit.”
On his acting career: “I’ve been acting for eight years now, and I feel I’m just starting to understand things. As soon as you think you’re the s**t, you’ll find 100 people that will point at you and laugh. I don’t ever want to be that person; I want to keep finding people I can learn from. That’s my entire journey in life.”
On being picky with food: “I will never eat a raw tomato. I can do the s**t out of some tomato sauce, or even sun-dried tomatoes, but never raw.” Eggplant? “F**k eggplant; it’s too spongy. I hate spongy stuff.”
On being a redneck at heart: “I wish I had a palate to be able to choose one over the other,” he says. “I’m a redneck; I still love Coors Light.” – via OUT Magazine.
PHOTO CREDIT – OUT MAGAZINE, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
