Channing Tatum Didn’t Like Women-Led Action Films Until Starring in the ‘Female Bourne Identity’
Channing Tatum used to have his own qualms about action films led by female actors. But that changed when he was cast in this underappreciated feature.
Channing Tatum’s ‘female Bourne Identity’ helped change his mind on female action movies
Tatum used to have reservations regarding the action genre as a whole. The star at one point confided that he preferred to star in romance films instead of stories with high thrills and large explosions
“I don’t like action movies, they’re not that interesting – although they’re fun to do for the physical element of it, I guess,” Tatum once said according to Female First.
Female-driven action movies were no exception. It seemed that at the time Tatum just didn’t find most women in action films believable.
“My wife always hates when I go, ‘I just don’t love female action movies!’ I don’t know why. I just don’t go run to see them. I’ll watch them but I don’t run to go see them. And then I was like, find a girl that can, pardon my French, whoop my ass and I will go to the movies to watch it,” Tatum told Collider in a 2011 interview.
Tatum would find himself starring in the 2011 action film Haywire starring Gina Carano, which he likened to another praised action movie.
“I play a Blackwater type agent. We get commissioned to go and kidnap this person and everything goes wrong in a way, and Gina Carano who plays the lead character gets set up for it. It’s kind of like a female Bourne Identity,” he said.
Tatum believed Carano was exactly the type of formidable female action hero at the time he was looking for.
“And it was awesome! And I truly loved it! So yeah, I’m interested to see it myself to be totally honest,” he said.
Channing Tatum met the real action star of ‘The Bourne Identity’ on set
It was ironic that Tatum labeled Haywire the female Bourne Identity. The star of the Bourne films himself, Matt Damon, happened to stop by Haywire to speak to the movie’s director Steven Soderbergh. It was the first time Tatum met one of his favorite actors, and he couldn’t get over being starstruck.
“I’m just beside myself,” Tatum once told People. “I’m such a fan, and still am. I sat down next to him, and I was like, ‘Hey, man. Where are you from?’ — and I was like ‘I just asked Matt Damon where he’s from.'”
Tatum still thought back to what he felt was an embarrassing encounter with Damon to this day.
“Everyone on the planet knows where Matt Damon is from, and he obviously knows that I know where Matt Damon is from, and I almost didn’t recover,” he said. “I don’t think I said anything for the next maybe two hours or so, and I still think about it today. Every once in a while, I’ll just have a cold sweat and feel like, I can’t believe….”
Channing Tatum once revealed the 1 action movie he starred in that he hates
Despite his gripes about the action genre, Tatum has dabbled in the genre quite a few times. In addition to Haywire, he’s also starred in White House Down and Fighting. But the one action movie he couldn’t stand being a part of was G.I Joe: Rise of Cobra. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show (via Variety), Tatum admitted that he wasn’t too pleased with having to do the feature.
“Look, I’ll be honest. I f***ing hate that movie. I hate that movie,” Tatum said . “I was pushed into doing that movie … [After] Coach Carter, they signed me for a three-picture deal … And as a young [actor], you’re like, ‘Oh my god, that sounds amazing, I’m doing that!’”
At the same time, however, Tatum recognized what the film did for his star-power, and appreciated the opportunity.
“I’m super lucky and blessed to have been given that film. That was really not all that bad. [But you have] no option. ‘You’re doing this or we’re gonna sue you,’” he said.
