Entertainment, Movies - Air Force Times

Tatum rolls with punches

LOS ANGELES — If you coax Channing Tatum, he will admit he has had his fair share of fistfights.

“But I’m not a tough guy,” he says with a light trace of Southern accent. “I’m probably not even a good fighter. I’m like any red-blooded American. When I was younger, I played football for 10 years, and after you run around on a field and beat each other up, fistfighting isn’t that big a deal.”

Tatum ought to know.

The Alabama-born, Mississippi-bred actor stars with Terrence Howard in “Fighting”, which opens Friday. In the movie, Tatum plays Shawn MacArthur, a transient New Yorker who hustles counterfeit goods to make ends meet. Howard’s fighting coach character offers him a chance to make cash in underground street fighting.

“Shawn is sleeping on a park bench. I’ve slept in my car before. I know what it’s like to be in a place where there is just no up,” says Tatum, who lived in his vehicle before hitting Hollywood. “There are two types of people on this planet: victims and everybody else. And then you find people in your life who help you move forward. I think that’s what this movie is, in a really kind of contrived way.”

His character accepts Howard’s challenge and becomes a quiet storm on the rugged street-fighting scene.

That parallels Tatum’s professional life. Since his debut in 2005’s “Coach Carter”, he has been tapped as a street-savvy pretty boy in a number of films. This summer, he stars in “Public Enemies”, a period-piece crime drama co-starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale (opening July 1), and he plays lead soldier Duke in “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” (out in August).

Tatum, who turns 29 Sunday, is engaged to Jenna Dewan, 28, his co-star from 2006’s romantic dance film “Step Up.” Tatum is mum on wedding plans but declares, “I’m really, really happy right now — I’ll say that.” These days, he is focused on nabbing roles that allow him to break outside his comfort zone.

“I haven’t really ventured out in my career with comedy. I just know that I understand drama a little better,” he says. “I’m also doing this Nicholas Sparks film. It’s a sitting-and-talking movie ... a beautiful love story that really changed gears for me. It was a nice change of pace.”

And even though he trained in mixed martial arts for his role in “Fighting,” he probably wouldn’t hit back in a scrape.

“If I got hit today, I’d probably run,” Tatum says, laughing. “I love my life too much to get into something now. I’ve worked entirely too hard.”