Channing Tatum recently revisited the infamous nude leech scene from The Lost City and has insights to give. Appearing on Hot Ones on October 2, to promote his upcoming film Roofman, Tatum shared how surreal it felt filming the naked jungle sequence alongside Sandra Bullock.
Channing Tatum talks about naked leech scene
During his spicy chat with host Sean Evans, the Magic Mike star laughed while describing the scene as “a fever dream.” In The Lost City, Sandra Bullock’s character has to remove leeches from Tatum’s body after the two find themselves stranded in the jungle—a scene that required him to be nearly completely nude on just his second day of filming.
“It wasn’t 50 takes, but it was a lot,” Tatum said, addressing the rumor that he couldn’t stop laughing throughout the process. “It was, weirdly, the second day of filming. I knew Sandy, we have kids the same age and we went to the same preschool and whatnot.”
On the same note, Tatum recalled introducing himself to the crew in the most unforgettable way: “You know you have to walk onto set and you have to be like, ‘Hello everyone. My name’s Chan. I know we’ve only had really one more day, or one day to get to know each other. So, you’re going to see my d*** today.’”
The actor also joked that Bullock’s part in the scene was even more bizarre. “Sandy having to have like a whole monologue—that was the weirder thing more than her having to pick leeches off my butt,” he said. “It’s like a fever dream to even explain any of this.”
Both stars have spoken in the past about how they felt filming such an outrageous scene. Director Adam Nee confirmed that Tatum was “completely naked” except for a small sock to protect his modesty. Bullock said, “You’d think there would be weirdness, but because he was so chill about it, he dropped everything and I spoke to it.” Tatum added, “It’s a hell of a day two, let me just say that.”
