Channing Tatum takes on the role of Dash/Alan, the strikingly handsome model who graces the covers of Loretta Sage’s (Sandra Bullock) romance novels, in Paramount Pictures’ new romantic adventure The Lost City (in Philippine cinemas April 20).
Dash is machismo personified: handsome, debonaire, smart, and courageous. But his real-life alter ego, Alan, is, when we meet him, not Dash. But at his core Alan is honest, dependable, and loyal, and against all odds, becomes the hero he always envisioned Dash to be.
“Dash is a swashbuckling character who rides in on the white horse or swings in on a vine and saves the day,” says Channing Tatum. “Alan is the farthest thing from that, but it’s not from lack of trying. I think Alan was a little embarrassed when he first got the modeling job, but then he had an epiphany and realized what a beautiful opportunity he had in playing this character who brings joy to so many people. What nobler job is there than the ability to make people happy?
“Alan’s not totally crazy,” Tatum continues. “He doesn’t really believe he is Dash, but he’d like to believe he has some of those qualities, especially the fact that he has such a good heart.”
For Sandra Bullock, Tatum was the perfect foil. “Channing is so self-deprecating; there’s nothing about him that’s ego driven, which works for the role of Alan because he is such an innocent,” she says. “He is wide-eyed and sweet. Not many people can play that kind of a guileless, open person, but Channing had such comedic intuition about Alan.
“Channing is a physical comedian who uses his body to convey the joke. We connected at once because that’s how I operate. It’s so nice to have a partner you’re comfortable with, and who has amazing timing. Moreover, we’re different enough that we complement one another,” Bullock adds.
A wonderful example of Tatum’s flair for physical comedy was when he stripped down for a laugh-out-loud scene with Bullock. Tatum’s character encounters leeches all over his backside, and Bullock inspects him to help with removal.
Tatum recalls filming the scene which was Day 2 of production, “Walking to set with a bunch of leeches super-glued to my butt and not having met everybody and just kinda being like, ‘Okay, I’m gonna be butt-naked today, my name’s Chan. This is just what it is,’ ” said Tatum. “And then not only that, but to have Sandra Bullock have, like, a two-page monologue with, uh, a certain part of my body.”
