Hollywood may have long ago left behind its studio system days,when leading men were manufactured on assembly lines,but star-making has changed less than you think. Behind every ascending actor is a teamusually an agent,a manager or two,a lawyer and a publicistthat obsessively works to build their client into the next Johnny Depp,Tom Cruise or Will Smith. Channing Tatum,one of moviedoms best hopes for a new male superstar,is no exception. A former Chippendales-style stripper,Tatum,31,will next appear in the comedy 21 Jump Street. But leading-man manufacturing has changed in one very important way: The success rate has plummeted. For over a decade now Hollywood has failed to mint a new heavyweight,the kind of actor who can anchor a blockbuster and repeat that feat over a prolonged period. Todays A list includes Denzel Washington,Brad Pitt,Leonardo DiCaprio and Adam Sandler,all of whom climbed into the cultural firmament 15 or more years ago. Daniel Craig may come the closest. Bond made Craig a star six years ago,but his movies outside of that franchise (Cowboys & Aliens,The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) have been box office disappointments. In the last decade or so a cavalcade of men reached for the stratosphere and stalled: Orlando Bloom,Edward Norton,Jake Gyllenhaal,Josh Hartnett and Tobey Maguire. Whats wrong? And does Tatum have any shot of beating the odds? Tatum,the Alabama-born son of a building-supplies salesman and an airline lost-baggage clerk,is practically living in multiplexes this year. In January he appeared in Steven Soderberghs Haywire,which was a hit with critics if not audiences. Recently,Tatum starred as a husband trying to win back his wife in The Vow a smash with more than $142 million in global ticket sales. Next comes 21 Jump Street,which stars Tatum and Jonah Hill as blundering undercover narcotics cops. And Tatum plays a lead role in the sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation,which arrives in June. He will also appear as a stripper in the comedy Magic Mike,a star vehicle based on his days in a nearly nude male revue. The R-rated 21 Jump Street is looking like a hit,with preview audiences saying they found Tatum surprisingly funny; a sequel is already in the works. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was a global success in 2009. Magic Mike is riskier,but the female fans Tatum won with hits like Dear John and Step Up are already salivating. Yes,he gyrates in a thong. But Tatum,who goes by Chan,knows Hollywood is littered with eight-pack abs that have failed to make the leap from hot young thing to leading man. I definitely think about it, he said. All I can do is work my tail off and try to make smart choices based on the advice of smart people. When you ask industry veterans why it has been so difficult for Hollywood to turn out a new crop of megawatt male stars,the answer usually involves the state of movies. Stars like Matt Damon,and Tom Hanks came up in medium-size dramas and comedies that let them build a fan base,the kinds of movies Hollywood has all but abandoned as it pursues bloated special-effects extravaganzas that play increasingly to an overseas audience. Then there is what Jeanine Basinger,the chairwoman of the film studies department at Wesleyan University,describes as the pretty boy problem. Now all we get is an assembly line of young guys who look the same. Some studio executives see little more to Tatum than a handsome face. The view of Tatum in some quarters has not changed much since January 2010,when Details magazine wrote,The jurys still out on how good an actor Channing Tatum really is,will be,or,in green-screen gunk like G.I. Joe,even needs to be. But others insist Tatum is different. Part of his appeal is old-fashioned movie star charisma that it factor that really is a real thing, said Amy Pascal,the co-chairwoman of Sony Pictures Entertainment,which produced The Vow and 21 Jump Street. But its more than that. He has now shown that he can hold a gun,kiss a girl and tell a joke. Most actors are lucky if they can believably do one of those. Tatums industry fans say he appeals to women in part because hes attractive but not so stunning as to appear unattainable. He is self-aware,but also unguarded. I know Im not the best actor,but Im in love with it,and Im getting better with every movie, he said. A modeling scout found him,which led to work for Abercrombie & Fitch,which led to dancing in Ricky Martins She Bangs music video in 2000. His big break was Step Up,a dance movie. Tatum has deliberately worked nonstop since. Taking a break is a problem because audiences today have attention-deficit disorder, he said. They forget you quickly. Youve got to be in there swinging all the time. To that end he has made 16 movies just in the last five years,including Stop-Loss,about young veterans of the war in Iraq,and The Eagle,a Roman period drama.
