Channing Tatum: Five years off acting 'gave me some perspective' (exclusive)

Watch: Dog star Channing Tatum talks to Yahoo about his movie hiatus

It’s been a while — the best part of five years — since we last saw Channing Tatum in a lead role. Aside from the occasional cameo and some voiceovers, he’s been noticeable by his absence since 2017's Logan Lucky. But now he’s back and he says 'it feels good.'

“I’m enjoying creating again and jumping back in the pool,” the Magic Mike star told Yahoo ahead of the release of his new film Dog, which also marks his debut as a director.

“The time off gave me some perspective, some time to rest and to know that this was what I was going to get back into. And now I’ve made a movie with my best friend.”

That friend is Tatum’s regular collaborator writer/producer Reid Carolin. This time round Carolin has written the script and the two share directing duties, both for the first time. Tatum is back in a lead role — and in uniform — as a former Army Ranger desperate to get back to the military life he loves.

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He’s given a one-time-only chance, by escorting Lulu, a Belgian Malinois military dog, to the funeral of her handler. It’s a race against time, full of incident for the two who are both deeply affected by their time on active service.

Watch a trailer for Dog

After working with the likes of Steven Soderbergh (Side Effects, Magic Mike, Logan Lucky), the Coen Brothers (Hail, Caesar!), Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight) and Bennett Miller (Foxcatcher), Tatum approached the move to the director’s chair with confidence.

But he was in for a surprise. “I’ve worked with so many great directors and you think you’ve watched enough, so you think you’re going to know how to do this. I got at least 50% of what I needed to know, but you just don’t know until you’re in the saddle. You just don’t know.”

After making Dog, he’s not sure about directing again. “I won’t be doing it any time soon,” he says. “I made the mistake of being in every single frame of it. We felt it was going to be helpful, and it probably was, but sometimes I didn’t actually feel like I directed a movie.

"I was directing the dog and trying to get that right. I’m not sure directing’s really for me. I’ll be in all of Reid’s movies from hereon now, until I find a story that I think is mine to tell again.”

He’s sticking to his word and seems to be making up for lost time in front of the camera. His next film, adventure/rom-com The Lost City, gets a UK release in April and sees him co-starring with Sandra Bullock and Daniel Radcliffe.

And filming for Magic Mike’s Last Dance, the third — and reputedly last — outing for everybody’s favourite male stripper, is due to start in London next month. The hotly-anticipated movie sees Soderbergh in the director’s chair and a script by Carolin, as well as Tatum in the title role – but this time there’s a female protagonist. There’s no word yet on who will play the new character.

The actor’s other forthcoming projects include comedy/thriller and Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut Pussy Island, plus a yet unnamed movie which sees him in military uniform again, this time with Tom Hardy in a drama about the Afghanistan evacuation.

Dog is released in cinemas on 18 February.

Watch a behind-the-scenes clip from Dog below.