Channing Tatum fulfilled a personal dream of his by starring in the Quentin Tarantino feature The Hateful Eight. And it was a film he was going to make sure he was going to be a part of. Even if that meant warning off other actors from the film.
Channing Tatum didn’t think he was going to be cast in ‘The Hateful Eight’
Tatum was more than enthusiastic about being a part of Tarantino’s film. But his enthusiasm was also met with nerves. Most of the cast in Hateful had already worked with Tarantino before. Meanwhile, Tatum was the only newcomer.
“So, it was definitely nerve-racking,” Tatum once recalled to Access. “Even the table read was nerve-racking, man. [Samuel L. Jackson] was the only person who I’d worked with before. I met Kurt [Russell] very quickly one time. And that’s really it.”
But his nerves were quickly put aside after seeing how excited his cast members were to see Tatum in the flick. Perhaps what made Tatum’s time on the movie even more special was that a part of him didn’t expect to be cast.
“I was shocked, to be honest,” he said. “Because I really didn’t think it was gonna happen. The part, I think, was written for someone a little older. And I think Quentin kind of had to have some time to figure out if he could make it work with some of the other characters.”
Fortunately for Tatum, Tarantino managed to age down the character enough to suit both Tatum and the movie.
Channing Tatum threatened other actors to stay away from ‘The Hateful Eight’
Before Tatum was officially recruited for Tarantino’s eighth full-length feature, he personally tried to secure the role himself. Tatum wanted the part so badly that he warned other actors away from his role through e-mails he gave Tarantino.
“I basically sent about an email a day for about a month just threatening any other actors that might be up for the role,” Tatum once said on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (via The Hollywood Reporter). “I was just praying that no one really tough was up for the role.”
The actor joked he was also Tarantino didn’t say someone like Mike Tyson was in consideration. If only because Tatum was willing challenge other actors to a brutal fight to work with the director.
Channing Tatum felt that Quentin Tarantino did most of his character work for him
When going over Tatum’s Hateful Eight character, Tatum realized that he might not have had to study his role all that much. He visited Tarantino personally at the filmmaker’s house to go over the role. But Tatum discovered there was little to go over, as Tarantino already thought of everything about the character.
“So, I go up to his house and you immediately realize how much you don’t know about film. You’re just like, ‘Oh God, I’m stupid, and I shouldn’t talk, and just let him talk.’ And then you realize he’s pretty much done your whole job for you,” Tatum once recalled on Jimmy Kimmel Live. “He starts just telling you all about your character. Where he grew up, how he was born. Which end he came out of. It’s unreal. You get the feeling, ‘Do you want to play this character?’”
