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| Channing Tatum |
One
of Hollywood’s most sought after young actors today and has
established himself among the next generation of leading men. Best
known for action thrillers (“G.I. Joe”) and romantic dramas (“The
Vow,” “Dear John”), Channing Tatum now stars in his first
comedy film ever, Columbia Pictures' hilarious high school send-off,
“21 Jump Street.”
In
the film, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) were enemies in high
school who became unlikely friends in Police Academy. While they may
not be the best cops on the beat, they have a chance to turn it
around when they join the police department's secret Jump Street
unit, run by Captain Dickson (Ice Cube). They trade in their guns and
badges for backpacks and use their youthful appearances to go
undercover...in high school!
Looking
for a foil for Jonah Hill's nerdy character, the filmmakers searched
for an actor to play Jenko – a guy for whom everything went right
during high school who discovers that things aren’t so easy the
second time around. Who could be handsome and an alpha male, but
funny, too?
“When
we met Channing Tatum, we realized he’s perfect for the role
because he’s naturally funny and sincere,” says co-director
Christopher Miller.
“Channing
Tatum hits all the right notes,” co-director Phil Lord shares.
“Everyone knows he can pull off the heroic stuff, but there’s an
underlying kindness to him that makes a nice contrast to his
performance. And he’s so much funnier than people expect. We knew
that the actor who plays Jenko had to be somebody who could be
comedic and have a twinkle in his eye, and Channing has that.”
Tatum,
who also signed on as an executive producer, says, modestly, “I’m
the biggest fan of comedies, but I’m terrified of them. I’m so
envious of guys like Jonah – so when he called and he said, ‘We’re
doing 21 Jump Street, and we want you to be in it,’ I really
thought I got the wrong call. Comedy is just so different – not
only do you have to worry about being honest in the scene, but you
also have to figure out where the funny beats are and punch them,
then drop and stop talking. It’s a fine art. Fortunately, I was
surrounded by comedy writers and stand-up comics who really knew what
they were doing – I learned an enormous amount.”
Tatum’s
character, Jenko, is the living opposite of Hill’s Schmidt. “They
went to high school together, and the first time around, Jenko was
the popular kid, the jock who got the girls,” says Tatum. “When
they go back, they find that everything has changed in 10 years. It
used to be all about picking on kids, being a bully, sleeping through
class. Now everyone’s a vegan, running their cars on vegetable
oil… they’re into everything that Jenko thinks is BS. Jenko ends
up hanging around with the nerds, and for the first time, sees that
all the stuff that nerds do – learning – is actually cool.”
The
fact that they are opposites is one of the reasons they work so well
together, according to Hill. “Even a two-shot of us is funny,
because we’re such different types – you wonder how we even met
each other, let alone became best friends. It was clear right from
the table read that the two of us would work well together –
Channing surpassed all of my expectations of how cool and talented he
is.”
“One
of the things about Jenko – I think if you asked him why he wanted
to be a cop, he wouldn’t have an answer. I’m guessing he just
watched a lot of cop movies and thought it would be really cool,”
says Tatum. In a way, Tatum and his character had similar
childhoods. “My friends and I would get an old Civic, one guy
would drive it and the other would roll across the hood, to see who
could do the fastest one. I don’t think Jonah did that kind of
stupid stuff.”
“Channing
told this crazy story about hanging with his buddies from childhood –
they partied really hard, then went out to the desert and shot guns,
and then they all got tattoos, and then they went over to another
friend’s house and scared him, and then they all got crazy
together,” says Lord. “I said, ‘Wow, when did this happen?’
and he said, ‘Saturday.’ I love this guy – he is Jenko.”
“21 Jump Street” will be
distributed in the Philippines by Columbia Pictures, local office of
Sony Pictures Releasing International. Visit
http://www.columbiapictures.
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