BLAST FROM THE PAST: MoviePictureFilm.com Interview with Channing Tatum and Chazz Palminteri for 'A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints'

Fabulous Channing Tatum Fan, CTU Reader, and avid CBox chatter Naz found a couple of great interviews posted by MoviePictureFilm.com on February 10, 2006 that I had not seen before with Channing Tatum and his 'A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints' mentor/co-star/on-screen surrogate father Chazz Palminteri.

Chan's article even has a picture that I had not seen before, so this was a great find by Naz and I appreciate her taking the time to send me the link. Below you will see Channing's entire interview and the parts of Chazz's interview where he talks about his experiences with the talented actor. Enjoy!

Interview: Channing Tatum (A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints)

It's no secret Channing Tatum is hot and talented. He's about to explode over here in the U.S. and he shows off his impressive skills and assets in "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints"

MPF sat down with Channing about a week ago to talk about his new film. Easy on the eyes and a talented up and comer, Channing chatted about playing the role of Antonio (a real life guy).


MPF: At the end of this whole experience, what did you learn about playing this character?

Channing: I learned that everyone doesn’t have to like the character. Chazz told me that. They just have to understand it. That was the one piece of advice that I’ve taken from this experience with this movie. It was better than any acting class. I think that’s why people get caught up in picking roles. People want to be the hero. It’s so much more important to do roles that are not that because it’s more real. People aren’t walking around thinking that they have to be this great guy, just be themselves and try to let other people know it’s okay to be who they are. As long as people will understand why Antonio did the things he did and was the way he was.


MPF: How did you get along with Chazz Palminteri?

Channing: He was, by far, my mentor in the whole thing. He’s been very fatherly from day one, from the first scene to the last scene.


MPF: What was it like filming in Astoria? Did you run into the real people from Dito Montiel’s childhood?

Channing: It was Nerve racking. We filmed at Antonio’s house. His little brother and sister were always coming out and running around and I’m sitting there and thinking, “My God. They can’t see me. I gotta get out of here.” The first thing everyone asked was, “Who’s playing Antonio?” They didn’t want to know who’s playing Dito. Antonio was like a superhero in this neighborhood. It was very humbling. I would tell everybody that I’m not trying to be Antonio. I can’t try to be, if I’ve never met him. I think I’ve done him a good service. Anyone else would have just fallen on their face trying to duplicate him. All I was trying to do was to recreate the relationship and duplicate the love.


MPF: Can you talk about the upcoming Kimberly Pierce film? Isn't it about Iraq?

Channing: It’s going really well. We’re right in the middle of it. It’s intense like "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints" is, but in totally different way. It’s about two best friends who come back from the war. It’s not really about the war, in a way. Yeah, it’s a war film, but it’s really about these people and their relationships and their love for each other. Just like in "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints", it's about change, the war has changed them. They don’t know what’s going to happen. Certain things kind of put them through a trial. The two kids growing up together end up going in different directions and it’s painful. It’s not anti-war. If anything, it’s just more about the soldiers and it’s like an ode to them.


MPF: Why did you choose this role?

Channing: When I read it, I was like crying my eyes out in the tub. But basically, my best friend growing up was Antonio. So, as I’m reading it, I’m like, “Oh my God, this is Matt”. (His best friend)
I was more like Dito in my life. I walked away from a few people like that and I feel like I just knew him. I would throw up if I saw anyone else mess with him because everyone was afraid of him, but we were the softest people who were just misunderstood.

Final Impression of Channing Tatum:

Did we mention he was hot? Yes, but besides that obvious fact, Channing Tatum is a talented and warm guy. I mean, how much hotter can you get then crying in the tub? Anyway, he's a great newcomer and I expect to see a ton of great things from him in the future.

Interview: Chazz Palminteri (A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints)

MPF: Did you relate to the character?

Chazz: When we did the scene with the seizure, all of a sudden Channing broke something's, glass was all over the place and then when they said “Cut!”, some of the people got upset with him because they thought he was out of control which he wasn’t. It’s just because Dito told him to do whatever he wanted, so a few people from the set yelled at him and I didn’t like that, so stood up and I said, “Don’t yell at the kid.” I did it as me, but, subconsciously I knew what I was doing. It kind of like bonded our soul together. I said, “If you want to yell at somebody, yell at me.”

MPF: Talk about working with a young actor like Channing Tatum.

Chazz: I knew that Channing was going to bust out any second. I said to him, “Listen to me very carefully. You’re going to bust out very big really soon. Don’t f**k it up. Stay focused on the work. Stay strong.” He listened to everything. He’s a great actor and he has great instincts. We were doing our scenes together and I told him some things to do and he did it right away. Then in the next take he did it again and I didn’t have to tell him twice. He was like a sponge.


Thanks again Naz for finding these great articles!

Source: MoviePictureFilm.com

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