49
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(
Clooney) or Ryan
(
Gosling) to bond over
the achievement?
No. I heard that George was on a set with
Steven Soderbergh when he was named
“
Sexiest Man Alive.” George had T-shirts
with that magazine issue cover and the
whole crew wore those T-shirts. So I took
a page out of George’s book and I had one
T-shirt made with me on the magazine
cover and sent it to Steven. Just to say,
“
I’m always thinking of you.”
Does Jenna (Dewan) find
it sexy when you bulk up
a little bit more for a role?
I just got pretty big for a role. I’ve never
been over 200lbs yet lean. I just did that
for
Foxcatcher
and Jenna actually likes it.
She said, “You can lose some of that stuff
if you want but can you keep the arms?”
So I think she finds it cool to change it up.
She gets a new, different sized husband
every once in a while.
You are about to become
a dad, how does it feel?
You work your whole life to get to a place
where you think you have figured things
out. You know what you want to do for
the rest of your life. And then something
like this comes along. You think you’re
going to be ready because you’ve been
around people who have children or who
were pregnant. By the way, pregnancy
is insane. It’s the biggest job, other than
raising the child, that I’ve ever seen in my
life. I have such a new respect for what a
woman’s body and psyche go through. It’s
mind-boggling. I’m in awe every single
day.
How have the material
rewards of success
changed your life?
You get to fly first class. You get to have
a nice house. You’re not living in an
apartment with somebody stomping
above you. That’s nice but it hasn’t
changed very much. I still have the
same friends I had when Jenna was
paying my rent because I couldn’t afford
it. Thank God, she had money. Nothing
has changed that much other than it
has opened me up to be more creative. I
don’t have to take a job that I don’t really
believe in just because I need money. I
am looking at other creative ventures.
I just started a bar-restaurant (Saints
and Sinners) on Bourbon Street in New
Orleans.
UNLIKE MOST
of the anxiety-choked
characters in Steven Soderberg’s latest
thriller,
Side Effects
,
Channing Tatum, one of
its lead stars, sounded relaxed and upbeat
on the day we sat down with him at the
Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles to talk
about the film. One of Hollywood’s hottest
stars says he has a lot to be thankful for in
real life, chief among which is his blissful
marriage to wife Jenna Dewan. “Marriage
has taught me a lot about relationships,
how to compromise and how to understand
a little bit more from someone else’s
perspective,” he said. “Happy wife, happy
life is a real thing. You learn from each other
—
the ups and downs, your weaknesses
and flaws. I look forward to starting a family.
I think the heavens are going to open up and
give me knowledge that I never thought was
out there.”
Channing has had a lot to be grateful on
the work front as well; after starring in
Side
Effects
and M. Chu’s
G.I. Joe Retaliation
,
you’ll see him next in Roland Emmerich’s
White House Down
,
Bennett Miller’s
Foxcatcher
and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s
Don Jon
.
c h i k k a
i n t e r v i e w
“
I look forward to starting a family. I
think the heavens are going to open
up and give me knowledge that I
never thought was out there”
When
People
magazine
declared you the “Sexiest
Man Alive”, did you
laugh or cry? Did you ask
your wife to buy as many
copies as possible?
Yes, we have a thousand copies there
(
points to the back). I’ll sign them later.
It’s an odd thing. You’re obviously
not the sexiest man alive. But it is an
accomplishment of something, of a
year you’ve had. I see it for what it is.
I definitely cried because I knew the
amount of fun that I was going to be made
of by all my friends.
I can never win an argument now.
It doesn’t matter — I can come back
with the wittiest line ever to my friends.
They just have to say, “Oh yeah, SMA.”
I didn’t even get the joke at first. I was
like, “What’s an SMA”? They were like,
“
Sexiest Man Alive.” You have no idea the
amount of ammunition my friends have
over my career — just to make fun of me.
Did you call former
SMAs Brad (Pitt), George
Channing and co-star Rooney
Mara in
Side Effects
