Everybody’s favorite former male stripper turned A-list superstar Channing Tatum continued his Magic Mike XXL media tour with an appearance on The Howard Stern Show this morning, and it was predictably charming. The man we affectionately refer to as C-Tates continues to battle Chris Pratt for the title of Celebrity Most Likely to Buy You and Your Bros a Round of Fireball Shots, as he and Stern basically walked us through the life and career of C-Tates, step by Step Up. It began with a very honest discussion about his learning disability and brief career as a male stripper – he once go-go danced in a gay bar, but never had sex for money — and ended with his amazing box office success and even more amazing life, naturally.
They touched on a lot of interesting topics, and Tatum danced around several classic Stern questions – “Going up on stage, do you have to show your cock?” – but he certainly did not avoid something we have all wanted to know… what’s up with that threeway with Emilia Clarke?
Stern: I love this story because it makes me f*cking crazy. The girl who plays the Khaleesi has said in an interview that she met you and your wife – you’re a very good-looking couple – and she said, you know what? I would offer myself to them in a threesome. I would like to do anything sexual with them. When she says something like that, does your wife turn to you and say, “Sh*t, another f*cking broad trying to get in on my action”? Or is there any entertaining of that, because that could be very hot.
C-Tates: If anyone she would entertain, it would be Khaleesi from Game of Thrones. It was after the Oscars, we had all had some drinks or something.
Stern: So you met the Khaleesi, and she comes out and says this the next day. Did you catch a vibe when you were talking to the Khaleesi?
C-Tates: She said it. She said something like that to us. I don’t remember the exact words.
From there, he explains that his reaction was everything that we could have expected from him or any other male put in that situation. While he doesn’t admit if anything has actually happened (my bet is hell yes it happened), he said that he’d put on some “loincloths and swords” and “go find a dragon” to make it work. Basically, it does not suck to be Channing Tatum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M7c9DEmYMg
The part that I found most interesting was how honest and blunt the hardest twerkin’ playboy in $how Bizna$$$ty was about arguably the most important film of his career, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.
C-Tates: I’ll be honest, I f*cking hate that movie. I was pushed into doing that movie. From Coach Carter, they signed me for a three-picture deal…
Stern: And Coach Carter you got good reviews, right?
C-Tates: Yeah. I don’t think they were reviewing me as much as Sam Jackson. I was just like the token white kid in the movie. So I’m sitting there and they give you the contract, and they go, “Three-picture deal, here you go.” You’re like, “Oh my God, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!” Even the options go from like 60 grand to 80 grand to 100 grand, and I’m like, “Oh my God, that’s so much money.”
Time goes by, you get other jobs and you’re building your quote and you have a dream job that you want to go do, and the studio calls. They’re like, “Hey, we’ve got a movie for you, we’re going to send it to you.” It’s right during the writers’ strike and it’s G.I. Joe and I’m like, “I love G.I. Joe, can I play Snake Eyes?” and they’re like, “No. You’re playing Duke.”
Stern: Most people would be thrilled. You’re G.I. Joe.
C-Tates: The script wasn’t any good and I didn’t want to do something that 1) I’m a fan of since I was a kid, and 2) I didn’t know if I wanted to be G.I. Joe.
But he did end up playing Duke in the first film of the franchise, as well as a few minutes of the sequel, and as Stern pointed out, it went on to gross $302 million at the box office. The fun thing about this specific excerpt is how Tatum eventually rolled back his hatred and declared: “I’m super lucky and blessed to have been given that film.” That’s A-list charm right there.
As for the rest of the interview, it’s well worth the listen below, even if it’s just background noise. In regard to 21 Jump Street, Tatum claims that Jonah Hill told him it was “a terrible idea” while recruiting him, and his entire team told him not to do it. As for 23 Jump Street, he says he “loves Jonah so much” that he’d do it if he told him to. Magic Mike XXL, he says, was the result of some creative ideas being “left on the table,” and despite McConaughey’s Dallas having no story left to tell, Tatum wanted to do the road trip story. And working with Quentin Tarantino? “F*cking rad.”
In regard to Tatum’s role in the non-Paul Feig (don’t call it Lady) Ghostbusters film, he says, “That thing’s gotten messy. There’s a lot of people doing a lot of things on Ghostbusters, so I don’t know… look, I would love to do it, but there’s a lot of people in the Ghostbusters pool. We’re in a bit of a gestation period.” And he’s definitely aware of how angry any Ghostbusters reboot has made fans, but come on, who else is gonna teach the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man how to break dance to save the rec center?
