Channing Tatum Starved Himself For His Best Role

It’s bizarre to think if the 2000 “X-Men” movie had instead come out in 2024, there would be people complaining about Hugh Jackman not being ripped enough to play Wolverine. Or if “Smallville” premiered now, someone would probably make a crack about Tom Welling having a “Dad Bod.” (If you don’t believe me: This is what Jason Momoa looked like when he got body-shamed for having the build of an “average” person.) It’s gotten to the point where, when Josh Harnett goes shirtless for a scene in M. Night Shyamalan’s thriller “Trap,” it’s almost shocking that he looks closer to somebody who’s actually physically capable of doing the things his character is supposed to be able to do in the film — not someone who’s severely dehydrated and been fasting all day to make their abs pop.

Thankfully, more and more actors are starting to speak out against the harmful extremes they’ve felt pressured into going to in order to achieve modern Hollywood’s unrealistic body standards. (Which is not to imply this has only become a problem in the last two decades; Brendan Fraser has admitted that his transformation for 1997’s “George of the Jungle” left him so carb-starved that he couldn’t remember his PIN number for a basic ATM transaction.) That includes Channing Tatum, who’s spoken candidly about depriving himself of much-needed calories while preparing for his role as the charming, lonely stripper Michael “Mike” Lane in the “Magic Mike” films and, in particular, 2015’s “Magic Mike XXL,” the movie that (rightly) topped /Film’s ranking of the 12 best Channing Tatum movies. 

Suffice it to say, there’s a reason Tatum has decided that three “Magic Mike” films is enough for him.

When the star of a movie series about stripping — a job where the goal is to embody your clients’ sexual fantasies — says the films promote an unhealthy and unsustainable body image, you know you’ve got a problem. Speaking on “The Kelly Clarkson Show” in 2022 (via IndieWire), Tatum explained, “It’s hard even if you do work out to be in that kind of shape.” He clarified that it’s not even a matter of having to eat well — quite the opposite, in fact. “‘Well’ is not even — that’s not even healthy. You have to starve yourself,” he explained. “I don’t think when you’re that lean, it’s actually healthy for you.” Tatum added that it’s only become harder for him to reach his weight goals as he gets older and his metabolism naturally slows down (although that in no way means that it’s somehow healthier for younger actors to do that either).

This isn’t anything new for Tatum. Seven years before that, when “Magic Mike XXL” opened in theaters, he was already championing for more actors to have “Dad Bods” going forward. “Even if it’s not, I’m going to try to make it ‘in’,” he stated at the film’s European premiere. “My ‘Magic Mike’ body […] lasts for about five days, like when we’re shooting. You time it until that day and then you lose it immediately.” Considering how he looks as Gambit in “Deadpool & Wolverine” and in his role as a sinister playboy tech billionaire in Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut “Blink Twice,” Hollywood would be perfectly okay (nay, better off) if actors were allowed to feel comfortable about following Tatum’s lead and eschewing the industry’s toxic expectations.

“Blink Twice” hits theaters on August 23, 2024.