Channing Tatum Didn't Really Know How to Play Soccer Before Filming She's the Man

The 44-year-old actor would "run and look really athletic" while filming the soccer scenes in the 2006 film 'She's the Man' — but didn't actually have much experience playing the sport

Channing Tatum She's The Man - 2006
Channing Tatum in She's the Man. Photo:

Rob Mc Ewan/Dreamworks Skg/Kobal/Shutterstock

Channing Tatum is not as skilled in soccer as he looked in the 2006 film She’s the Man

In an Entertainment Tonight segment called "Spill the E-Tea" published on June 24, Tatum and his costar Scarlett Johansson took turns asking each other questions ahead of their upcoming romantic dramedy Fly Me to the Moon.

During the segment, Johansson, 39, asked Tatum, 44, if he “ever faked a skill to get a job,” which prompted him to reveal the truth about his soccer skills.

Calling the film "a movie I did about soccer," Tatum explained "I played soccer in [She’s the Man] and I definitely led on a little bit more that I could play soccer [better] than I actually could. But I pulled it off.”

Clifton Murray, Brandon Jay McLaren, Channing Tatum, and Amanda Bynes in 'She's The Man'.
From left: Clifton Murray, Brandon Jay McLaren, Channing Tatum and Amanda Bynes in She's the Man.

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In She's the Man — based on the Shakespeare play Twelfth Night — Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) secretly switches places with her twin brother Sebastian to play on the boy’s soccer  team at his new boarding school Illyria Prep. While she’s there, Viola meets Illyria’s team captain Duke Orsino — played by Tatum — who is Sebastian's roommate. Duke helps Viola — as Sebastian — with her soccer skills.  

In the film, Tatum performs plenty of soccer trick shots. During the ET interview, Tatum said he tried to “run and look really athletic during the shots" and joked that “I was like 'just cut away when I f--- up.' “

Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum She's The Man - 2006
Amanda Bynes (left) and Channing Tatum in She's the Man.

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In a 2018 interview, Bynes told Paper Magazine’s Break the Internet issue that she played an important role in getting Tatum cast as the romantic lead in the film. 

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“I totally fought for Channing [to get cast in] that movie because he wasn’t famous yet,” Bynes said. “He’d just done a Mountain Dew commercial and I was like, ‘This guy’s a star — every girl will love him!’ “

She also revealed that producers at the time were hesitant about Tatum since he was six years older than Bynes, but “I was like, ‘It doesn’t matter! Trust me!’ ”

Channing Tatum at the Versace x NET-A-PORTER event in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California on March 7, 2024.
Channing Tatum in March 2024.

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Fly Me To The Moon is set to hit theaters on July 12. 

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