Channing Tatum on "free-for-all" nature of "The Book of Life"
Channing Tatum provides the voice of strength in his latest film, "The Book of Life."
The "22 Jump Street" star is lending his vocal talents to the new animated flick, which was produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by "Mad" TV series animator Jorge R. Gutierrez.
The film mostly takes place in a small village on the Day of the Dead -- the Mexican holiday honoring to the deceased -- and centers on two friends, Manolo (Diego Luna) and Joaquin (Tatum), as they vie for the romantic interests of Maria, voiced by Zoe Saldana.
All of the townspeople in their village scold Manolo as weak for choosing his musical interests over his family's bullfighting legacy. Joaquin, meanwhile, is worshiped and praised as a hero and protector of the community, even though his strengths rest on a secret weakness.
Tatum says he jumped at the role because of the film's conflicted characters.
"No one is perfect," Tatum said in an interview with CBS News. "And I think the beautiful thing about this is that they're three really great friends and they're all sort of in this very interesting love triangle and they all know each other like very, very well. You can't lie to your friends. They know you too well."
The 34-year-old actor revealed that he was given a great deal of leeway from Gutierrez to improvise while recording his lines.
"The animation world is such a free-for-all," Tatum said. "There's no wrong answer really. You just sort of go and say whatever and anything and somehow you'll like and then you kind of go down that path and then you go back to the script...This was such an amazing experience on this movie because it's a fun movie, one, and Jorge has such a big huge heart that you just love showing up every day."
Watch video above to see Tatum explain why Guiterrez envisioned his character as a "Captain Latin America."
"The Book of Life" is now playing in theaters.
