Interview

WAYANS: What scares you?

TATUM: Comedy. [laughs]

WAYANS: What’s your favorite place in the world?

TATUM: My family’s ranch in Alabama.

WAYANS: Why?

TATUM: Because I don’t have one bad memory from there. I can sit underneath the shed with all my family, my cousins, and everything, and just be like, “Yeah, this is what it’s about—just sitting with people you love and hanging out.”

WAYANS: You mentioned your sister earlier. Are you guys close?

TATUM: Yeah, really close. She’s like my surrogate mom.

WAYANS: So it’s just you two in the family?

TATUM: That’s it. Me and my sister. She’s older.

WAYANS: Did she make you play with her Barbies and stuff?

TATUM: She probably dressed me up as a Barbie.

WAYANS: Wow. Your sister did that to you, too?

TATUM: Yeah. [laughs] I don’t know, man . . . It might have been a blessing. It’s like my sister said: “How can I give this kid so many issues that he becomes a good actor one day?”

WAYANS: What’s your idea of heaven?

TATUM: Having a huge compound that’s, like, thousands and thousands of acres big, which all of my friends live with me on.

WAYANS: What’s hell?

TATUM: Hell would probably be . . . [pauses] I’ve got some funny things that I could say, but I’m not going to say them. I’m going to plead the Fifth on my idea of hell, because we might get into trouble.

WAYANS: If you did Dancing with the Stars, do you think you would win?

TATUM: I would probably be the first one booted. I can’t do that whole ballroom dancing thing. I don’t even know how to do that.

WAYANS: What are you talking about? You did Step Up, Step Up 2, Step Up 4,000 . . .

TATUM: Did you see any classical dancing in there? Hell, no.

WAYANS: I’ve seen you do a pirouette.

TATUM: Okay, fine, you’ve seen me do a pirouette.

WAYANS: That’s tougher than hip-hop dancing?

TATUM: Yeah, it’s a lot tougher to me . . .

WAYANS: If you could do a biopic, who would you want it be about?

TATUM: Jim Thorpe is someone I’ve always loved. He was an Olympic athlete, you know, and a football player from back in the day. I’d love to play him. And then there’s a guy called Iceman who was a top hit man for the mob. I would love to play him. Actually, it’s sort of in the works, so I hope it goes through. But we’ll see . . .