My Channing Tatum Interview

The daring, baring Channing By Raymond de Asis Lo, L.A. Correspondent (The Philippine Star) Updated February 06, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (1)

Channing Tatum (with Rachel McAdams in The Vow) is so secure with his masculinity that he can talk about his life and even his private part.
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“I did not prank anyone! No, no!” Channing Tatum declared when asked to provide more details about one particularly naughty prank he pulled on the set of his new movie The Vow during last week’s junket in Beverly Hills.

“The swinging pinky d--k?” he asked. “That’s amazing, who told you that?” He was laughing and shaking his head at the same time after we pressed him for details.

The hunky actor, who is enjoying a hot streak in Hollywood at the moment, strapped on a fake penis during a scene that called for him to stand naked in front of co-star Rachel McAdams and started jiggling the extra appendage to annoy her.

The prank did not annoy Rachel but instead amused everyone on the set including the director who patiently waited for things to settle down before filming the scene. In the movie, however, only the actor’s naked backside is shown — but female fans of the sexy actor will definitely take delight in the movie because there are quite a few scenes where he takes off his clothes and bares his chiseled body.

Channing is so secure with his masculinity that he can talk about his past, his career and personal life — and his private part (fake or not) with nary a hesitation or much fanfare. Details magazine once featured an entire article about how he burned his private part while filming an action movie two years ago. He even had pictures of the burnt body part on his mobile phone that he showed to the writer who interviewed him for the story.

Today, the actor is talking less about any body part but more about his hot career, his new movie with Rachel and his upcoming movie with director Steven Soderbergh that’s rumored to be based on the period in his life when he stripped for a living — “I am not really happy to talk about it but I am open about it. I think it’s hilarious. It truly was a ridiculous part of my life.”

Screen Gems’ The Vow is an endearing new movie about love, devotion and sacrifice inspired by a real-life story of a couple who had to endure the most difficult test of their lives when the wife partially lost her memory after a terrible car accident and failed to recognize the very same man she vowed to love all her life.

The movie traces the story after this accident and how Channing’s character Leo tries to win back Rachel’s Paige. The narrative addresses those “impact” moments in everyone’s life when a sudden event plunges us to a new direction and purpose in life and forces us to examine the relationships we have built and the amount of sacrifice we are willing to offer for someone we love.

Channing, 30, is happily married to actress Jenna Dewan in real life and their love story, though it may not directly mirror the love story in The Vow, is just as inspiring and romantic.

But Channing’s part of the story does not start here. It starts miles away from Hollywood, in a small Mississippi town where he grew up not dreaming of becoming an actor.

“I was so defined by sports all my life,” he said. He described himself as a jock before he made the realization that he didn’t want to have anything to do with sports anymore. “I didn’t even want to go to school.” He spent some time trying odd jobs including becoming a stripper before a “creepy guy” (his words) approached him in Florida if he had representation. “I didn’t even know what representation meant,” he revealed.

With no previous experience in acting but armed with his good looks and determination, Channing found himself being cast in several ad campaigns for Armani and Abercrombie & Fitch, among others, and before long he was already doing bit parts in music videos and small movies. And it was when he moved to Hollywood that he finally discovered what it was that he really wanted in life. “I truly just fell in love. I will be doing this ‘til I am dead, until I can’t do it anymore.”

The biggest break, or “impact” moment, in his life came when he did 2006’s Step Up. The movie accelerated his ascent to the top in Hollywood and it also introduced him to his future wife, Jenna.

Unlike other stars, who are so guarded about their personal lives, Channing did let us in on a few bits and pieces about his life with Jenna and how he is working hard every day to make their marriage last.

“When I jump, I jump. I am all in,” he declared. “I think loving somebody and caring for somebody is the same thing. I think it’s just a different way of expressing yourself. It’s one of those things where I don’t think it’s hard to show somebody that you care for them.”

“Write ‘I Love You’ and hide it in a place where it’s hard to find. Don’t worry if she finds it or not. Just hide a bunch of stuff everywhere. That takes 10 minutes to hide a bunch of papers around the house — it’s not that hard.”
Channing’s marriage survives because he and his wife give themselves only two to four weeks away from each other before they really have to drop everything and see each other.

“There’s only so much you can do with Skype. I am not a good phone person. Every two weeks, no matter where we are, we try to see each other and she’s been so good about it. She has traveled more than I have. She’ll come in and hang out for 12 hours and get back on the plane, you know, because she’s busy and vice versa.”


Channing believes “that making time and being really aware of your connection” is the key to a strong relationship.

He also shared a little game that he regularly play with his wife to measure how much they love each other at a given time. He described it as: “It’s like ‘How much do you love me right now on a scale of 1 to 10? You have to be honest.’ And you really have to be honest because otherwise you say 10 but you don’t feel like a 10 and then you don’t get what you need to be a 10. And if you say five, then you are really annoying the s--t out of me. And you say ‘I am sorry’ because you don’t feel like you’ve done your job…”

His candidness slowed down only when we inquired what part of his character’s vow in the movie was lifted from his actual vow. “I would love to tell you guys because it actually meant a lot to me but I don’t really know if I want them out.” (Note: Channing did acknowledge that the vow that he recites in the movie contains portions of his actual wedding vow to his wife.)


To say that Channing is a charmer in person would be an understatement. The guy has an easy smile and he makes you feel like you are his friend. He will most likely gain more fans with The Vow and when his highly anticipated “stripper” flick called Magic Mike hits theaters later this year.

And, contrary to reports, Magic Mike, which he is producing, is not based on his stripping past. “Not a biopic. No. I am not gonna do a story of my life as a stripper. It has nothing to do with it,” he said, trying to shoot down the false rumor. “There is no event that actually happened in the movie that ever happened in my own life. The stuff that happened in my own life was crazier. That life was so weird, such a strange world.”

He may have had a strange past but Channing is in no way living a weird life now — crazy and exciting, yes, but certainly not weird.

(The Vow opens Feb. 10 in Metro theaters.)

My 2nd Leonardo Di Caprio Interview (J. Edgar)

DiCaprio at his best in J. Edgar By Raymond de Asis Lo, L.A. Correspondent (The Philippine Star) Updated January 23, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (0)

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MANILA, Philippines - Funny how this writer regularly find interesting tidbits of regular, random conversation between stars and their handlers when I review my recording before I start transcribing my interviews. The exchanges are mostly about the temperature of the room where the interviews are being held or whether the stars needed something before we start counting down the 30 minutes allotted to us. To my welcome surprise, my recorder offered me just that when I was reviewing the interview I had with Hollywood superstar Leonardo DiCaprio recently.

This writer met with the handsome actor sometime in November last year during the junket of his current movie, Warner Bros.’ J. Edgar, the acclaimed biopic directed by the legendary Clint Eastwood.

Ordinarily, we start running the recorder just as soon as we get notice that the star is on his way to join us in our interview suite. So, just as we were about to begin our interview, I started my recorder and it captured a brief but charming exchange between Leo and his handler just as he was settling in to his seat. The subject of the conversation was rather trivial but it offered something new to add to the list of things that make the actor really, really nice and likable in person.

The handler asked if he wanted a cappuccino instead of the regular coffee he brought with him. Leo initially said yes but later declined the offer. “I wish I had a cappuccino,” he said. “But actually I don’t want one. This is my fifth cup.” You know what made it really interesting? First, he was drinking the same coffee that everyone was drinking and, second, it was only 10 in the morning yet he already had five cups of coffee!

Leo is already in his mid-30s with few telltale signs of fine wrinkles up close yet, if one would listen closely to his voice when he speaks, one wouldn’t notice anything different to the Leo today and to the young actor who played Jack in Titanic 15 years ago. He still has that distinct voice and speaking style that’s a cross between an excitable young adult and an impatient adolescent.

Ask him anything and he will give you a lengthy but substantial response. He is famous for his utmost dedication to his craft and one can glean this trait when he starts talking about the current project he is doing or promoting.

J. Edgar, is based on the life of former FBI director J. Edgar Hoover who is considered by many as perhaps the most powerful and feared person in America during his time. The movie brings to light the true story of the enigmatic J. Edgar — from the creation of the FBI to his much-whispered homosexuality. Leo’s powerful and impassioned performance has garnered some of the best reviews of his career and he is expected to receive his fourth Oscar Best Actor nomination when the nominations are announced on Feb. 24 — but just don’t mention it to him.

“The truth is I have learned through my experiences in this industry that there is absolutely no way to control or do anything as far as people’s opinions on your performance or movie — and that is the truth,” he declared emphatically when asked about his Oscar chances. “You go out there and you promote your film and you hope people like the work that you did and they are gonna respond the way they are gonna respond when they are in the room with that ballot. Who knows? I am thankful that people are talking about it but ultimately, I truly have no control over it. I really don’t.”

Make no mistake about it, Leo’s performance in J. Edgar is not just one of the strongest this year, it is also one of his best ever. And he could just win the Oscar any year with this performance. Again, just don’t mention it to him.

“I don’t think anyone would say that they wouldn’t want one. They’d be lying, I think. But that is not my motivation when I do these roles. I really am motivated by being able to work with great people.”

He added that he was more interested in having a “creative body of work for myself that I can look back and be proud of.”

“I was 15 years old when I had my first opportunity in movies. I went and watched movies for a year and a half. I watched every possible great film and every great performance I could and since then I’ve said to myself how could I ever emulate such great artistic master that’s been done in cinemas past. That’s really my motivation and that’s a fact. I feel like I want to do something as good as what all my heroes have done.”

Leo picks his projects meticulously. He revealed that two of the primary reasons why he did J. Edgar were the opportunity to finally get to work with Mr. Eastwood and to be able to play a character as complex and ambiguous as J. Edgar Hoover. Some critics have noted that he seems to be attracted to suffering and tormented characters. Case in point is his two masterful turns in Martin Scorsese’s taut thriller Shutter Island and Christopher Nolan’s mind-blowing masterpiece Inception last year.

In J. Edgar, he adds another great character to his body of work that already includes, among many others, Howard Hughes in The Aviator, controversial poet Arthur Rimbaud in Total Eclipse and, of course, Romeo Montague in Baz Lurhman’s now classic Romeo+Juliet.

What attracted him to J. Edgar Hoover’s story was his unquestioned place in American history. “His life was a reflection of the changing of our country,” he said. “I think that he had great intentions for our country. I think that most of what he did was under the auspices of being a great patriot and great American and I think that he also really wanted personal glory. He was very ambitious... (FBI) was his baby and he wanted to be the symbol of it — the symbol of power in his office — and to hold on to that power at any cost necessary. It’s hard to like somebody who has that kind of attitude about their job, but I do believe he was a patriot and his intentions for protecting our country were there.”

J. Edgar Hoover is credited for creating the most powerful and most sophisticated law enforcement agency in the world but at the expense of personal liberty and freedom as some critics would contend. “He had despicable tactics towards the end of his life but it was all under the auspices of the fact that he thought he was a great patriot and he was doing a service to the country.”

Another aspect of J. Edgar Hoover’s mysterious life that’s tackled in the movie is his presumed homosexuality, including his apparent life-long love affair with his assistant Clyde Tolson, who is portrayed in the movie by handsome newcomer Armie Hammer. Note: The Screen Actors Guild recognized Armie’s impressive performance with aBest Supporting Actor nomination.

Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench and Oscar-nominated actress Naomi Watts are also part of the incredible cast.
Leo may be too modest to talk about how impressive he was in this movie but there is no denying that his powerful performance carries the movie as it navigates through the more than 50 years in J. Edgar Hoover’s colorful life. Watch it and be amazed.

(J. Edgar opens in theaters on Jan. 25)

My Robert Downy, Jr. Interview (Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows)

The game is on for Robert Downey Jr. By Raymond de Asis Lo, L.A. Correspondent (The Philippine Star) Updated January 06, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (0)

Robert is back as the world’s most famous detective Sherlock Holmes in A Game of Shadows
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MANILA, Philippines- There is a small, cozy coffee shop in a little corner along Melrose Ave. near San Vicente in West Hollywood called Urth Caffe that’s a favorite among Hollywood celebrities who seek those few minutes of anonymity while doing some of the most basic errands ordinary folks do  like getting in line for a cup of their favorite coffee.

A couple of months back, while this writer was at this coffeeshop, a Hollywood power couple quietly sauntered into the shop and unassumingly took their spot in the usual long queue to order what I assume was coffee for him and hot chocolate for her and pretty much enjoyed being in a crowd where everyone was polite enough to just give them a quick recognizing look and leave them to their privacy. Unfortunately for them, we were there.

One of my friends recognized Robert Downey Jr. even if he was clad in full winter garb and a bonnet and immediately alerted us. I had to take a second look to confirm. Yes, it was Robert with his pregnant wife, producer Susan Downey.

Thrilled as were, we pretended that we were cool about this celebrity sighting  but I had to alert my Facebook friends about it, though  and kept our distance. I have met and interviewed Robert before but when you’re someone who adores the movies and movie stars like me, nothing beats the exhilaration of unexpectedly bumping into a superstar in person.

And lo and behold, a week after that fun “fan” day, I received an invitation to the press junket for Warner Bros.’ SherlockHolmes: A Game of Shadows. I was doing an interview with Robert! I didn’t have to think twice before accepting the invite, previous commitments be damned.

You just don’t say no to Robert Downey Jr.

With Jude Law, who reprises his role as Sherlock’s trusted friend Dr. Watson

The Hollywood superstar belongs to that rarefied group of actors whose name alone can command instant adulation. He is A-list in the truest sense of the word. His last four movies made nearly $1.5B in worldwide box-office! And he is so cool about it. He can even be lighthearted and funny.

At the junket, during the cast press conference, someone asked Robert who between him and his producer-wife was the boss at home and the actor replied in his typical dry humor: “First of all, I am definitely the boss at home,” he stressed with a sly smile forming on his face. “And I am also the boss on the set!”

“There is no room for discussion ever,” he continued. “I am so happy she’s sitting in the back of me right now because that’s where she belongs.” Susan, who, along with Joel Silver, has produced Robert’s string of megahits beginning with 2008’s Iron Man, was present during the junket and laughed along with everyone else.

But, no, the Urth Caffe encounter was never brought up.

Robert has enjoyed an enviable success over the past couple of years. He has two huge franchise hits to his name: Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes.


In the latter, the actor returns as the world’s most famous and smartest detective which again features the returning Jude Law, as Sherlock’s trusted friend Dr. Watson, and director Guy Ritchie, whose hyper-kinetic directorial style provided the original Sherlock Holmes a distinctive appeal.

“Robert was a great friend to me so it was with great enthusiasm that we embarked on the second one,” Guy replied when asked to describe how it was working with Robert again, “and I enjoyed it more than the first.”

Jude skipped the L.A. junket because he had a previous commitment in London.

The stunning and beautiful Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who made a splash last year when she made the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo joined the junket and was surprisingly relaxed and very articulate in person. She stars in the movie as the mysterious gypsy woman who may hold the key to Sherlock solving his current case.

This is Noomi’s first Hollywood movie (she will be appearing in Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel, Prometheus later this summer) and she revealed to us how both excited and nervous she was when she learned that, for her first Hollywood outing, she was going to be in a movie with Robert, which proves that, apparently, no one is immune to Robert’s charm, even among actors.

“I was a bit nervous,” she said. “I met Robert and Susan six weeks before we started in a very intense and crazy 30 minutes in their office and Robert was on the floor trying to find a fan for me because he’s like, ‘Noomi needs a fan because it’s way too hot for her,’ and he was just fantastic from the first moment I met him.”

Robert with Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who plays a mysterious gypsy in the film

“He was so sweet. We had a good chat. We talked about movies, dreams and what kind of things we want to do,” she added. 

To the curious, the answer is “No.” Noomi wasn’t offered nor she turned down the American version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. She told this writer during a private conversation that she made it clear after finishing the original Swedish trilogy that she will not revisit Lisbeth Salander again because, according to her, the character and the movie took a such huge emotional toll on her.

But I digress.


Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows also brings to screen Sherlock’s foremost enemy, the equally clever Professor James Moriarty, portrayed by British actor Jared Harris.

This rousing and action-packed movie jumps from London and takes the audience to an adventure in France, Germany and in Switzerland. Complementing the thrilling journey is the impressive production design, which is such a visual delight, and the original music composed by Oscar-winning Hans Zimmer, which incorporated authentic gypsy music into the score.

The sequel has retained nearly the same team from the first Sherlock Holmes. Even Rachel McAdams provides a brief cameo in the movie.

Among the characters he has portrayed, Robert considers Sherlock among his favorites. “I am not particularly like Sherlock,” he said, “I think the great thing about it is Jude and I found a lot of escapism and aspects of ourselves in Holmes and Watson.”

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows opens Jan. 8. in theaters.