Caffeinated Clint
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Moviehole catches up with “White House Down” stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx on the eve of the DVD and BD release of their new two-hander.
In the press conference, Roland [Emmerich] and Maggie [Gyllenhaal] said they were initially intimidated by Jamie. Channing, were you intimated by him?
CT: This is the most talented person that I’ve ever been around. There is nothing that he cannot do [or] that he cannot understand. A person like that has a lot of presence and power and you revere them. I think that’s what scares people.
JF: Well, I’ve got to weigh in on Mr. Channing Tatum because we were on a TV show called “Jimmy Kimmel” and we did this song called, “Channing All Over Your Tatum.” And Channing came to the house – because we actually recorded the song – and he said, “I can’t sing that.” Then he gets in the studio and kills [it]. His talent has yet to be really opened up. The same amount of respect that he has for me, I have for him because he’s about to go into “stratosphere mode.”
Channing, did you have to do any special fight or weapons training to prepare for your role as an aspiring secret service agent?
CT: I’ve had a lot of military, weapons and fight training over the years so, when I talked to Roland about what we were going to be doing for this film, I had pretty much covered the basics. And it wasn’t going to be, like, a hard-core army or military film. It’s a Roland Emmerich film. It’s a little heightened. So we weren’t trying to mimic reality.
Jamie, Roland said you do a perfect imitation of President Obama. Do you imitate him in the film at all?
JF: We thought about trying to do a President Obama thing but we just did splashes of things here and there and a couple of things that may look familiar to you. But we don’t exemplify President Obama. It just happens to be cool that we have a black President at the same time we’re doing this movie.
Channing, you’re known for doing your own stunts but were there any stunts in this film they wouldn’t let you do?
CT: There is a part of the movie where we’re on the roof of the White House and we’re fighting. They wouldn’t let me do the fall from the atrium to the table because there was falling glass and a breakaway table and plants. There were too many elements.
Do you ever try and sneak in a stunt?
CT: As much as I can. I’m like [whispering], “Just roll the cameras! Go, go, go.”
What about your co-star?
CT: He was there every step of the way and he didn’t have a stunt man do anything in the movie.
JF: But I didn’t have the stunts you had to do.
Channing, you play a father in the film. Are you nervous about becoming one in real life?
CT: It was a bit of a shock at the end of this movie to find out I was going to be a real father. You’re terrified and you’re excited and you try to prepare and then you’re like, I don’t want to be too prepared because you can’t be prepared for something like this. There’s no book that you can read. There’s no documentary you can watch. This is all going to be on-the-job training. But I’m excited for it.
How will you juggle fatherhood and your career going into, as Jamie described it, “stratosphere mode”?
CT: It’s nice to have this happening at this moment because it keeps it insanely real. I’m at home every night – just like any other husband that has a pregnant wife – rubbing coconut oil on the belly and just trying to be like, “You okay? You need something? What do you need?” Jenna and I, as actors, are both very career oriented and we’re very, very ambitious people. Now, it’s nice that something else is a little bit more important than us.
Jamie, have you ever considered going into politics like your character?
JF: I have friends that are conservative, liberal, libertarians, independent, democratic – and it’s too tough. We’ve come to a huge logjam. I think the best way to influence is outside of politics by using our light and our celebrity to just shine upon things that I think are important. Also, there’s a line in the movie that says, “You don’t start out a politician, but they make you one.” So that’s a key component of what we’re going through right now. It seems like it’s hard to get things done because it is so political.
So, when is the single “Channing All Over Your Tatum” going to drop?
JF: [sings] “Channing All Over Your Tatum.”
CT: They’re killing my name. They’re crushing my name.
JF: I think we’re going to drop that thing about four weeks before the movie comes out.
“White House Down” is now available on DVD and Blu-ray
