Channing Tatum on not being able to do the biggest stunts in White House Down

Inside issue 208 of Total Film magazine , we chat to Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx and Roland Emmerich about presidential actioner, White House Down .

The film (not to be confused with this year’s Olympus Has Fallen ), sees Tatum’s Cale forced to step up and rescue the President (Foxx) when the White House comes under attack. And to rub it in, Cale’s just failed an interview for a job for the secret service…

You can read the full feature inside the issue (available for the hard-to-resist price of £1.99 on your iPad ), but here’s an outtake of what Tatum had to say about doing as many of his own stunts as possible:

“I like doing my own stunts. You know, I go to movies all the time, and I know when they cut away, when the actor's face goes through the window and I'm just like ‘Ah, come on now!’ You know, it's all sugar glass, it's not going to hurt you, but for insurance purposes they don't let us actors go through things and whatnot, but I enjoy it.

“There was a part of the movie when we’re on the roof of the White House, fighting, and I do a fall. But they wouldn’t let me do the fall from the atrium. Just because there was falling glass, there was a break away table, there was a plant. So they wouldn’t let me do that – just because there was too many elements. I get it. But I love it… I like being ‘Ha! I got through that one!’”

White House Down opens in the UK 6 September 2013, after a 28 June 2013 bow in the US.

For much more from Channing Tatum, pick up Total Film magazine issue 208, which is out now!

Read a full preview of Total Film magazine issue 208

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The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine. 

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