This article will deal with the simple reality of why Channing Tatum is the biggest “star” of the year, and the more complex reasons of why he doesn’t get the respect he should.
Let me just hit people with the simple facts first. He is now the only American movie star to have three movies (The Vow, 21 Jump Street, and Magic Mike) open north of 35 million dollars in a five month period. He is also the only American actor to be the lead in three movies that have grossed over a hundred million dollars in a five month period. The first and only actor ever for both of those records.
What makes it even more incredible are the movies he claimed those records with. The Vow, a Nicolas Sparks-based romantic weeper that critics hated that still managed to gross 125 million dollars, nearly double what Zac Ephron’s other Nicolas Sparks-based romantic weeper The Lucky One did, just for some reference. Then there was the even more unlikely success of 21 Jump Street a movie remake of a TV show that people only remember because of Johnny Depp and that no one had high hopes for—–and one that won over audiences (over a 130 million) and critics this time. Then, and this one floors me, is Magic Mike‘s success. I’m talking about a movie with a budget of an ultra-low 7 million dollars making (as of this posting) 115 million dollars. That’s more than SIXTEEN times its budget in a matter of six weeks. In other words “Goooooooooddamn,” as a studio executive might say, immediately running to green light a sequel.
We’re talking about smashing box office records with three films that don’t have an alien or robot or vampire between them. These are “old-fashioned” movies in that they actually have a plot and characters and a recognizable dramatic structure. A romance, a comedy, and a drama…three genres that sometimes don’t even make back their budget now being bona-fide mega-hits and it’s impossible to say that people aren’t going to see Tatum when they see these movies. Would The Vow have been as a big a hit with Taylor Kitsch in that role? Absolutely not. Would Magic Mike have done its kind of business with Colin Farrell as lead? Hell no. Unlike all of summer’s big budget tentpole pictures, Spider-Man or Batman or Ironman isn’t carrying these pictures, an actual man is. They rise and fall based not on special effects, but on how much people want to see him…and the only logical answer seems to be that people do want to see him. In a way they simply don’t want to see Taylor Kitsch, Colin Farrell, Orlando Bloom, or even Ryan Gosling (who didn’t get a third this business for last year’s trifecta of Drive, Crazy Stupid Love, and The Ides of March).
And yet almost no critics, industry “insiders,” or much of anyone else seems to think this is a big deal. In fact, things have been pretty quiet for Channing so far. You’d think there might be 25 million dollar follow-up offers or magazine covers and Tabloid stories galore about this type of incredible year, but all those seem to go to almost anyone else. Why? Why the reluctance? Welp, I think it boils down to three reasons…
1. “Channing Tatum Can’t Act,” which is another way of saying “He’s Too Good-Looking to Be Much of an Actor.” Critics like to get a narrative (that Tatum is a lousy actor who couldn’t perform his way out of a paper bag) and stick with it, no matter what new information might come in. Was Tatum the heir to Pacino in the first G.I. Joe movie? No, and he should gracefully get out of that going-nowhere franchise. But that doesn’t mean that anyone could have been that good in it. Tatum paid his dues in some crappy movies, but look at how good he’s been in even the not-so-great stuff (I still say he was the best thing in The Vow), and what he can really do when given half a chance (sly in 21 Jump Street, and a young Matt Damon in Magic Mike).
Of course, the real problem for the detractors is that girls like Tatum, so, naturally, us straight men have to hate him. This is the typical knee-jerk reaction on every “dreamboat” from Leonardo DiCaprio (called “DeCRAPrio” when Titanic came out by pretty much every guy I knew) to Orlando Bloom (actually…that one is somewhat justified). But I think that’s unfair to Tatum in a way that it might not be fair to Justin Timberlake, because Tatum doesn’t ooze the kind of “God, I want to punch him in the face” quality that most pretty boys do at the height of their fame. In other words: Give him a chance homophobes, and you might like him more than you think, because…
2. Channing Isn’t British, Australian, Irish, Scottish, Canadian, or The Son of Someone In The Business…He’s the first actually American success story that Hollywood’s produced in years. Think about it. Hasn’t more or less every…single…acting “sensation” (that stars in three big movies and then disappears almost as quick) been from the United Kingdom or their one time penal colony in the past decade? I’m talking Hugh Jackman, Daniel Craig, James McAvoy, Gerard Butler, Alex Pettyfer (Channing’s Magic Mike co-star), pretty much anyone who’s starred in a Batman movie, Henry Cavill (the new Superman), Andrew Garfield (the new Spider-Man), the Hemsworth brothers, I mean the list really could go all day. There’s a bias in the industry that these types of actors are better…like every Robert Pattison is really snatched off the Old Vic stage. It’s absolute bullshit, these actors are cheaper because they can’t really “open” a movie on their own regardless of genre. Also, people were asking Hollywood to get more diverse, so they did…by hiring white guys from other countries, not exactly what anyone was talking about.
If they aren’t from there, they’re Canadian (Ryan Gosling, Taylor Kitsch, Ryan Reynolds), or the beneficiary of some “hometown cooking” because their parents were in the industry (Jake Gyllenhaal). Among American success stories, Channing didn’t get his start ultra-young (Joseph Gordon Levitt), or stick to the traditionally American comedy route (Jonah Hill, Seth Rogen, Jason Seigel), or grow up in California (everyone else). He’s the first true blue, red state-grown star since Matthew Mcconaughey.
Everyone watches American Idol to see a red-state kid snapped up into fame and fortune but how often does that really happen? Virtually never, which is part of what makes Tatum’s success so refreshing.
3. Tatum is married and has been for years. Part of the prepackaging that comes with any “star” these days is “Who are they fucking?” And that lets people in on the vicarious thrill of matching up their “favorite” Hollywood stars (although who really wants fans like that?). It’s half the reason people are so infuriated with Kristen Stewart—–a woman they don’t know and never will—–for messing up their “perfect” couple. The Paparazzi can’t stalk Channing Tatum outside Lindsey Lohan’s bedroom because he’s not there. He’s married with almost no signs of stress or fracture…in other words “boring” to the more nihilistic side of celebrity followers, the TMZs of the world that love showing people Hollywood’s sleaze so they can feel superior to it—–while secretly getting turned on by it. It’s a weird, paradoxical love/hate relationship with sex that’s been left over from the Puritan days, and happily married stars don’t give up the goods on that score.
So, that’s my reasoning. And if—–for those reasons or others—–Tatum can’t get the next evolution in more dramatic parts because people still aren’t giving him the respect he deserves, I’ve got some scripts for him.
Wow! Love the article.