Channing Tatum Talks HAYWIRE, Soderbergh, MAGIC MIKE, MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., THE BITTER PILL, FOXCATCHER, and More

With director Steven Soderbergh’s spy-action pic Haywire opening tomorrow, I recently got to speak with most of the cast about making the movie.  Starring MMA fighter Gina Carano as a burned spy who takes revenge against her handlers, Haywire also stars Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Michael Angarano, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, and Bill Paxton.  I’ve seen Haywire twice now and it’s fantastic.  On top of Carano’s star-making performance, the action scenes are some of the best I’ve seen in years.   It’s absolutely something you should see in a theater.

During the press junket I got to speak to Channing Tatum twice.  The first time we just talked about Haywire. However, the second time we covered a ton of other topics like what the last year has been like for him, his relationship with Soderbergh, how Magic Mike came together and it’s rating, what it was like working with Matthew McConaughey, and what happened to The Man from U.N.C.L.E.. In addition, Tatum revealed he has a small part in Soderbergh’s next picture, The Bitter Pill (which might now be called The Side Effects), and we ended talking about Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher - which he might star in with Steve Carell. It’s a crazy sounding movie.  Hit the jump to watch.

Channing Tatum Time Index

• 0:25 – Reflects on his work over the last year, which he called “a grind.”
• 1:05 – Talks about Steven Soderbergh and working with him on Haywire.
• 2:05 – Has picked up an appreciation of the finer points of rounding out a character as an actor and making that character work within the overall framework of the film.
• 3:30 – Talks about Magic Mike and his real life experience as a stripper at the age of 18. Says, “If you ever wanted to know what it was like to be a male stripper, this is it.”
• 4:25 – Discusses Magic Mike being rated “Hard R” and why it has to be that way.
• 5:35 – Talks about Magic Mike being primarily a “fun movie” and discusses Soderbergh’s style.
• 6:10 – Gives background on characters in Magic Mike and talks about whether or not they’re based on real people.
• 7:10 – Jokes about the ratio of “amount of time Matthew McConaughey is shirtless in a movie vs how much money the movie makes.” Candidly talks about McConaughey as an underrated actor and compares his commitment to that of Al Pacino.
• 8:40 – Talks about getting McConaughey for the movie because he sees him as a sort of Mad Hatter and says that McConaughey transcends the character that was written for him.
• 9:25 – Dismisses the rumor that he and Soderbergh were working on Man from U.N.C.L.E. and says the project fell through due to budgetary issues.
• 10:05 – Comments briefly that he has a small part in Soderbergh’s next picture, The Bitter Pill.
• 10:10 – Calls Foxcatcher a “beautifully insane and dark tale” and discusses a brief synopsis of it. Says it’s Bennett Miller being “back to form.”
• 10:55 – Talks about Steve Carell playing John du Pont in Foxcatcher and discusses the character dynamics. Says he “can’t wait for Carell to try something more heavy and serious.”