CHANNING TATUM MUSCLE MEMORY

HOW THE STAR HAS REBUILT HIS PERSONAL LIFE AND TAKEN CONTROL OF HIS CAREER

- Jennie Noonan

Since he first stepped onto a film set two decades ago as an extra in War of the Worlds (2005), Channing Tatum has regularly put his body on the line for his roles, from gruelling rehearsals to prep for choreography-heavy movies that show off his dance moves and more - ahem, Magic Mike (2012) - to bruising fight scenes in a string of action-heavy flicks.

Signing on to play a real-life fugitive in Roofman (in cinemas October 16), Tatum assumed he'd be in for a cruisy ride. “I was like, ‘Oh, this isn’t an action movie. I'm not going to be exhausted by the end of the day,” he told Entertainment Weekly in June. “I’ve had to hit the ground every day on a movie before and your body hurts. But this was a spiritual marathon on some level.”

The movie tells the story of Jeffrey Manchester, who leads a double life while spending six months hiding out in a Toys “R” Us after breaking out of prison, where he'd been serving time for robbing more than 40 McDonald’s restaurants to provide for his daughter. “[He] worked so hard on this film,” revealed Kirsten Dunst, who plays Tatum’s love interest. “I don’t think anyone's seen him like this before.”

The hard physical work started before the shoot began. Tatum, 45, had ballooned to 110kg for a role in upcoming film Josephine and quickly had to slim down. “Jeff is a really thin guy. He’s not as big-boned as me,” Tatum told Variety in September. “He was so wiry and really fit.”

The star had only planned to drop down to 84kg but wound up bottoming out around 78kg. At this point, the film’s assistant director, Mary Ellis, stepped in. “She was just like, ‘That's it,” Tatum told Variety.

“She was like, ‘Get him a steak right now.”