Channing Tatum Fights a Woman!

He throws a pot of hot coffee in her face! She smashes him into a wall.  Just an average day in Hollywood.  Well, at least for hot actor Channing Tatum and mixed martial arts champion Gina Carano on the set of their action/thriller film Haywire.

Channing, who is married to athletic dancer/actress Jenna Dewan, admits that he was taught, as a southern gentleman, not to hit women but he had to step up for his fight scenes with the gorgeous but very physically capable Gina or she would put him in the hospital. 

We’re chatting with the duo in Beverly Hills where we notice that the dark-haired, take charge, kick butt Gina is looking very Hollywood glam today in slacks and low cut blouse, great make-up, hair style etc. She cleans up really well and Channing is being very respectful sitting by her side.

TeenHollywood: Gina, can you talk about the cool way you got this part?

Gina: I got the phone call after I lost my first fight to [female martial artist] “Cyborg” Santos and I didn’t really want to speak to anybody at the time. I was bummed. I had a black eye, and my agent called me and he said that this director wanted to meet me, and I didn’t know who he was. I don’t know anything about Hollywood really, still. I’m still learning. I decided to pick him [Steven Soderbergh] up at the train station in San Diego. We had a four hour lunch and at the end of it he offered me a movie. So, there was no auditioning. I don’t know what that is like yet.

TeenHollywood: Channing, I understand that you already knew who Gina was from your interest in martial arts fighting, right?

Channing: Yeah, I had met Gina earlier that year at a Strikeforce fight. One of my buddies is a Strikeforce fighter. She is just a lovely girl. I followed MMA for a long time and had been a fan of hers. I saw her first fight. I also followed her on “Fight Girls”, the reality show. In some Japanese or Chinese movies you have some female action stars that could actually step in the ring and could hold their own, but in America she’s probably the first one.

TeenHollywood: Gina, how did you get so interested in being a martial arts fighter?

Gina: It’s funny. I grew up on “Anne of Green Gables” and then after that the earlier “Pride and Prejudice.” I didn’t really watch action films and then I dated somebody who was a big fan of Bruce Lee. I know that sounds really weird coming from a tomboy, but I think I balanced myself out that way by watching those films. So, I didn’t really have somebody I was looking at to mimic in fighting either. I think I was always the son my dad never had. I have two very thin and beautiful sisters so, I was always like the brute and kind of the middle child.

I was a little bit of a recluse. I got in a lot of street fights. I was dating someone who realized that maybe this wasn’t the best lifestyle. He walked into Master Toddy’s Muay Thai in Las Vegas and always wanted me to come in and watch him. And I saw a huge transformation in a human being I was close to and so I finally went in and I became completely addicted. I just threw myself into it. As a female, go exert yourself on something. And realize how good it feels to let that all out.

TeenHollywood: Yep, agree. Did you have to alter your training a bit to get ready for this film?

Gina:  Absolutely. They had me getting up at five o’clock, and then I did three hours of stunts, and then three hours of Mossad secret service training with guns and pretty much boot camp, and getting yelled at. Then, getting stalked and stalking other people. And then after that I did strength and conditioning.

TeenHollywood: What about training you as an actor?

Gina: There wasn’t any acting training until probably like the week before. I had the script with me and I had so much anxiety about it. I didn’t even know what to do with this darn thing. And then finally the week before, they were like “let’s try reading some lines with this acting coach”. [She’s being modest. She is actually very good in the film].

TeenHollywood: You two have a really serious fight in a diner in the movie. Somebody must have gotten hurt!

Gina: He wanted me to do more to him. He said “I want some bruises.”

Channing: [laughs] Well, I wanted stories to tell my buddies. My wife [Jenna Dewan of the “Step Up” movies] hates when I say this but find a girl that you think can whip my butt and I’ll go to her movie. And then they did. [laughter]. She can really do this stuff. There’s no faking it. She only fakes it, because she has to. It was fun. I’ve done a lot of action movies and fight scenes, but Gina’s one of the best dancer-athletes that I’ve gotten to move with.

TeenHollywood: Gina, what was it like to basically kick the c**p out of Channing, Ewan McGregor and a lot of hot guys?

Gina: I loved it. I loved every moment of it. It was really a beautiful experience, and these guys made it ten times more of a beautiful experience than I could have imagined. Everybody around me on set was like “It doesn’t usually go like this it’s a once in a life time thing”.

TeenHollywood: Channing, you are a southern gentleman. Did you have to overcome the idea of hitting a woman?

Channing: Yes, very much so for me. I grew up in the south and you don’t hit women.

You don’t even cuss at them, yell at them or anything. She had to call me the P-word [Pansy??] basically to make me hit her. I had to smash a ketchup bottle on her face. And, it was so alarming to see a beautiful girl sitting across from me, and we had to do it to see if [the bottle] was going to break, and how hard I was going to have to do it. I couldn’t physically do it! And then she had to make fun of me, and challenge my manhood to make me do it.

TeenHollywood: Uh oh. What happened?

Channing: I finally did it and I realized I made a huge mistake. Because I did it way too hard, and her face came back like that. Oh, I think I’m faster but I’m not sure. Her conditioning is probably better than mine. She can run longer. But, the fighting a girl thing, yeah, it’s different. You see everywhere you go two men fighting. You see it in the bars. You see it on TV. You see it in movies. You very rarely see a man and a woman fight, and even more rare a woman beating the hell out of some man. And it was kind of a pleasure.

TeenHollywood: Gina, are you worried about comparisons to Angelina Jolie and other actresses who can do action?

Gina: I’m definitely not a judgmental person. I fight for living and I think every fighter probably watches action scenes, and they think what they would have done and what is realistic. And everybody has been trying to compare me. I don’t want that comparison. [Actresses like Angelina] are good at acting and they can do anything they want but they still do these types of roles physicality. It’s a beautiful thing. What I’m bringing is just whatever I can with my own flavor and my own personality.

TeenHollywood: Gina, what will you remember from working with Channing and the guys on this movie?

Gina: I honestly have to say this is one the most beautiful experiences I’ve never had. I got to travel to places I’ve never been. I got opened up to a world I’ve never seen, and I was surrounded by the most beautiful people. Knowing I haven’t done this before, it was very comfortable to be vulnerable.

TeenHollywood: Channing, after working with Gina, what was your impression?

Channing: I kind of knew what she was going to bring in terms of athleticism, but I was truly shocked at her ability to really act. That was her first time. Like Michael Douglas, [looking at her] you went toe-to-toe with him. I would have been running down my leg.

Such a sort of calm confidence and at the same time unawareness of self, and that is really fresh as an actress in my opinion. We live so much in our head. I think we can get lost up there because you always have to be looking in at yourself. That was brilliant.

TeenHollywood: Gina, what about a sequel?

Gina: I think a lot of people have been waiting to see how this does and my performance. You know, it’s not the easiest world to break into. As far as “Haywire 2,” that’s all up to [director Steven] Soderbergh. Regardless, I am really excited to get onto this side of it and just land somewhere.

Channing: [excited] Red Sonja, I want her to play Red Sonja! [a cool fantasy sword and sorcery heroine from the comics].