Channing Tatum - Step Up Production Notes 2

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From the minute she came on board, director Anne Fletcher found herself facing a major search for a cast who could bring realism, excitement and raw talent to STEP UP. She set out on a quest for a group of young actors so gifted they could not only embody the film’s characters but also do all their own dancing and singing. To make sure the film felt utterly alive and real, she absolutely refused to use doubles or voice-overs for even a single shot. It wasn’t easy, but through a combination of luck, timing and little miracles, an extraordinary ensemble was pulled together.

"We were so lucky because I think there is an astonishing amount of talent on display in STEP UP,” comments Fletcher. “These kids are the real deal and there’s no smoke and mirrors. It’s what I always aimed for. Everyone does their own dancing and singing – so the characters feel very real and you never have to cut away from what’s happening emotionally to switch to a double. I'm excited that I succeeded in that. Finding Channing Tatum was our biggest coup, followed by finding Jenna, who is an unbelievable dancer as well as being gorgeous. Most of all, there is real magic and chemistry between them that makes the story work.”

The hunt for a young man to play Tyler began with trepidation. "That character is so complex on the page,” says Erik Feig, “we knew it would be a challenge to find someone with all those qualities. We needed someone who would be charismatic yet troubled; tough but likeable; hardedged but romantic; and an untrained yet amazing dancer. It was a lot to hope for.”

Then Channing Tatum, who grew up in a tiny town in Alabama and emerged as a new face to watch in an edgy 2002 Mountain Dew commercial, walked in for an audition. It was a moment that changed the entire film. “As soon as we saw Channing, we knew he was Tyler,” Feig recalls. “And then we saw him dance and he moved like water. There's no other way I can explain it. He is just so fluid and exciting to watch. It was just a thrill to find him. "

Adds Adam Shankman: "Trying to force someone into the Tyler character would have been disastrous. We needed someone who you feel has too much passion, too much electricity to control, and that is who Channing is. He's also quite possibly one of the best natural street dancers I've ever seen in my life. He just has so much texture in his being."

Tatum instantly related to Tyler on a deep level. "I felt I could not have written myself any better that what Tyler is in the script,” says the young actor. “He's a carefree kid who loves to dance and have fun, but he also has a self-destructive side. I think all boys at that age are kind of crazy and destructive in their own ways. That's what being a teenager is. You mess up in order to learn.”

He continues: “I also remember what it felt like not to know what you want in life and that’s a big moment to get through. Luckily for Tyler, when he gets put in a situation where he's around all these kids who really want something in their lives, it awakens something in him. Then he really starts to fall for Nora and a whole new world opens up to him.”

Although he’s been a freestyle street dancer for years, like his character, Tatum had no formal training – which meant he had to “hit the boards” in intensive sessions with hip-hop choreographer Jamal Sims. The process was a lot tougher than anything he had expected. " I could always dance and move, but learning a structured routine was hard for me because there's so much going on and it’s entirely different than just dancing on gut instinct,” he observes. “I don't know if I would have been able to do it without Jamal there. He has the patience of a Zen master. He's one of the most creative, talented people that I've ever met. It was because he had so much confidence in me that it gave me the confidence to try it.”

Tatum also credits Anne Fletcher for bringing out the best in him. "I learned so much from her. She's so free-spirited and wild, I just wanted to be around her all the time,” he says of the firsttime director. “She’s a ball of energy and a finely tuned instrument for knowing reality."

With Tatum cast as Tyler, the next crux of the production was finding a young actress with extensive enough ballet experience as well as the personality to pull off Nora. “Once we cast Channing and realized what an amazing dancer he was, the bar became extremely high for whoever would play Nora,” notes Feig. “We had to search that much harder.”

After a lengthy series of auditions, the filmmakers came across Jenna Dewan, another newcomer who has been dancing since the age of 5, has been seen in dozens of music videos and toured with P. Diddy and Janet Jackson as a dancer before breaking out into films. “When we saw Jenna, it was another great discovery,” says Feig.

“We knew she had to be the kind of person that if you're Tyler Gage walking into school with a major chip on your shoulder and wanting to hate everyone, you'd stop in your tracks as soon as you saw a glimpse of her -- and would want to do everything to impress her and try to win her over. Jenna had that ineffable quality."

Like Tatum, Dewan was attracted to the story of STEP UP. “I like that it’s about two worlds coming together, and how Tyler and Nora really wind up teaching each other lessons,” she says. “I also loved that Tyler and Nora don't come together in a cliché way. Tyler’s had such a hard life and he doesn't know how to want something because every time he wants something, he feels like it goes away. But when he meets Nora, that’s all she knows how to do – to fight for something that she wants. I think that ignites a fire in him and inspires him to find out what truly matters to him. On the flipside, he shows Nora how to let go and live more and not be so rigid. He shows her what real love is. Both of their lives are changed by the other."

Also like Tatum, Dewan felt that role had been tailor-made for her. "I was so drawn to Nora because it really couldn't be written any more like me as a 15 year-old. I was Nora,” she says. “I was a true diehard about dancing. That was all I ever really wanted to do. I had that same passion – and I really didn't know what would happen if I couldn't go and pursue it.”

Things really clicked when Dewan encountered Tatum for the first time at an early reading together. "The second we met, it felt completely natural,” she recalls, “and by the time we started rehearsals it was as if we'd known each other for years. Channing’s very open and generous, plus he's an amazing dancer so just watching him develop was an inspiration to me.”

It also felt natural for Dewan to work in Baltimore – a city where she lived for several years when she was in elementary school. "I started to dance in Baltimore, and it’s where I first started doing some acting. It couldn’t have been a more exciting setting for this story.”

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