It would seem that Magic Mike superstar Channing Tatum would have a few dance numbers in his back pocket for future castings. That is, until Mr. Tatum was approached by Joel and Ethan Coen to star in their new flick Hail, Caesar. Tatum, who has a tap-dancing number in the film, couldn't have been more ill-prepared for the task.
The new movie, which also stars a number of high-level actors like Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton, showcases Tatum as a Gene Kelly-type equipped with a sailor outfit as he taps to a tune in a musical scarily similar to Anchors Aweigh.
However, herein lies the problem, with Tatum less-than-qualified for the job it was only made worse when the idea expanded and so did the quantity of movement. As he said to Vulture:
"In the script, it was like five sentences long - a dance number on a battleship, just a knee-slide, and then cut. And that became a six-minute song with tap-dancing. Chris Gattelli was my tap teacher and choreographer, and without him I never, ever, ever would've been able to do this, not in a million years. He believed in me until the day I was about to crack. I didn't think tap-dancing was going to be easy, but I also had no idea how hard it was actually going to be. I just figured that if I did the moves, the sound would come out."
He was also required to sing, but that didn't hold much over Tatum's head as multi-tracking and overdubbing could've easily been applied to a botched vocal solo.
Nonetheless, it appears that Tatum was able to lace up and perform with adequacy (or probably more).
Check out a preview of the film, which is out in theaters, below.
