Image Source: Screen Rant
Sharing with Variety what led to him feeling like he could not work in Hollywood any longer, Channing Tatum explained that he put too much pressure on himself, and that led to him exerting himself a bit too much. “I felt like I was the fat kid at the buffet, just working and working and working,” he explained. “I took four movies back to back without any time off. I wasn’t as good as I wanted to be in those last two movies because I didn’t have the energy.”
Now that he feels refreshed again, Channing Tatum has decided to come back and will be starring in films again. He will soon be seen in "The Lost City" and "Dog," which will be released this year. In Dog, Tatum will be seen as a U.S. Army Ranger.
The story is inspired by Tatum's dog, who passed away due to cancer in 2018. Presented by MGM Studios and United Artists Releasing, the film is an ode to Lulu, a pit bull-Catahoula mix. Apart from starring in the film, Tatum will also be co-directing the film, along with his producer friend Reid Carolin. The actor poured heart and soul into directing and filming Dog as he brought Lulu back to life with the three dogs that worked on the sets of the film.
“I saw it and really liked it,” said Steven Soderbergh about 'Dog'. Tatum will also be working with Soderbergh again as they together create Magic Mike's Last Dance. The film will be the third and the last installment in the Magic Mike franchise. The shoots are expected to begin soon in London.
“I was really proud of them,” said Soderbergh, referring to Tatum and Carolin. “If people didn’t know Channing and Reid were making their directorial debut and saw it without the credits, it has all the elements of a polished studio movie. I called Greg Jacobs” — the producer of the film — “afterward and said, ‘That looked hard.’”
Tatum also shared that he was not very sure if he would ever return to film sets again after his break in 2018. That year, the actor also announced his divorce from his former wife, Jenna Dewan, whom he had back in 2006 when they worked together on Step Up. The actor is now dating Zoe Kravitz.
“Do I want to act anymore?” retold Tatum, sharing his inner turmoil when he had stepped down from acting. “Was I going to direct? Do I want to be in the industry anymore? I got lucky. I won a creative lottery ticket. I made a little bit of money, so I could take a step back and figure out what life is.”
Hence, Chan went on to look at other arts that he could work with while staying creative. Last year, the actor published “The One and Only Sparkella,” a children's book. “I really took time off,” shared the actor. “I sculpted. I took pictures. I wrote my own stuff, not like a script or anything. Just creating on different levels. I wanted to take a breather.”
The actor also managed to make a franchise out of Magic Mike and demand intellectual property rights as he had originally produced the film along with Soderbergh in 2012. “It’s unthinkable that they would ever become involved in something that’s mean or cynical,” Soderbergh said about the characters of the movie. The film has helped change the narrative of masculinity, shifting it away from the focus from the 'toxic masculinity aspect of being a man. “I think that’s one of the reasons we all synced up.”
“It’s my favorite thing I’ve ever done,” said Tatum when talking about Magic Mike. “And I’ve gotten to make some really cool movies. I remember sitting next to Reid on the opening night of the live show, and I said, ‘If you told my 18-year-old self I was going to own a strip club one day, I would have believed you. But if you told my 18-year-old self how I was going to do it, like the road in which I was going to take, I would have never been able to fathom it.”
Tatum and Carolin had first met back in 2008, when they worked on Stop-Loss, a Carolin production, and the duo then started collaborating together, bringing out ideas for each other and producing together. The two had also wanted to together direct the Gambit, a film on the 'X-Men' mutant, but the 20th Century Fox studios did not give them the opportunity. “The studio really didn’t want us to direct it,” Tatum shared. “They wanted anybody but us, essentially, because we had never directed anything.”
However, the character could not take off as Disney and Fox merged, leading the project to go to waste.
Another very hard loss for Tatum was the death of his dog, Lulu, who was the runt of the litter of a dog pair his aunt and uncle had. “I took the runt, and that was Lulu,” he said about his beloved fur buddy.
Unfortunately, the dog was diagnosed with cancer that affected her bones, and she had only a few days left to live. Tatum had one last road trip with Lulu to Big Sur and the sweet buddy died the day after they reached home.
Tatum, who really wanted to direct a film, is a bit overwhelmed with his experience with shooting 'Dog.' “I don’t have massive aspirations to be a giant director or anything like that,” he revealed. “I don’t know if I will direct again.”
Now the actor is gearing up to return as Magic Mike, though he admitted that he did not want to do it again. “I didn’t want to,” he admitted. “My live show was the third one. We chewed off all the meat off that — no pun intended.” But when Soderbergh saw Magic Mike Live in London, he was instantly taken by the concept and decided to expand the franchise. “I said we’ve got to do another film,” said Soderbergh. “I know exactly what it is!”
Sharing what you could expect from Magic Mike 3, Tatum said, “This one’s going to be a full dance-icle. We’re going to swing for the fence. I’m going to dance as hard as I’ve danced in any movie other than ‘Hail, Caesar!’” “I want this movie to be filled with joy and fun. Everybody is like, ‘Less character, more dancing.’ So I’ve listened,” he said, finishing the conversation.
