Back in 2006, Channing Tatum was a Hollywood upstart, starring in films like “She’s The Man” and “Step Up.” But the actor had a bigger vision for himself, and an audition for a role he knew he’d never get ended up as a catalyst for him becoming a more serious actor.
In a talk with THR’s “Award Chatter” Podcast, Tatum revealed he auditioned for Josh Brolin‘s role in The Coen Brothers’ “No Country For Old Men” with full understanding he’d never land the part. But it was a gigantic growing experience for him, and Tatum credited the audition as a moment where “something clicked,” and his career was never the same.
“I got a chance to audition for “No Country For Old Men,” Tatum began, “and I was ten years too young for the part. And I knew I was ten years too young for the part, but I was like, please just get me in there. Get me an audition. I was such a fan of the Coens and I was like, I know I’m not gonna get the movie, but I know I’ll be a better actor after I come out of that room. Just by being directed in an audition from the Coens.”
“And something happened that I can’t describe other than going,” the actor continued, “I went in knowing I wasn’t going to get a job. I prepared everything that I could. I was seen in every way. I had my take on it, but I was prepared as many ways as I possibly could and went in and was just open because I really just wanted to learn from them. I really wanted to see how they would direct and what they would say and what they see.”
Remarkably, Tatum’s first audition went well; so well, he was offered another one in NYC. “It went all the way to New York, and they’ve said if I was older, if they were gonna go younger, it was gonna be me,” Tatum said. “And I, for whatever reason, something clicked. That does something to you. All of that stuff plays, it’s all underneath there, and the fact that I knew I wasn’t going to get the job freed me up from whatever. I went into every single audition after that different.”
It took a while for Tatum to graduate to more serious roles after the “No Country For Old Men” audition, but it did. He eventually landed a supporting role in Michael Mann‘s “Public Enemies” in 2009, his first blockbuster the same year in “GI Joe: Rise Of The Cobra,” and started his working relationship with Steven Soderbergh two years later with 2011’s “Haywire.” But that breakthrough never would have been possible without the actor making the point of trying out for the Coens. Tatum may not have gotten Brolin’s role, but whatever “clicked” changed his acting fortunes for better and for always.
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