Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried are as handsome and likable as humanly allowed in Dear John, the new movie love story about a modern-day Romeo and Juliet who fall instantly in love before being separated—for years—and enduring the obstacles and heartbreaks of adulthood.
 
After an idyllic summer courtship on the beaches of Charleston, South Carolina, duty calls for troubled John Tyree (Tatum), and the Green Beret ships off to battle, leaving behind new love Savannah Curtis (Seyfried), a well-to-do college girl who corresponds with frequent letters. The two young stars excel at the push-pull of first lovers recklessly abandoning their respective personal baggage, if for a brief moment. But then, as tends to happen, life gets in the way.
 
And it is then that Tatum, the underrated star of Step Up, Fighting and Stop/Loss, finds his emotional center of gravity with an unabashedly sensitive, natural turn from the guy who went Alpha-male in last year’s effects bonanza G.I. Joe. Seyfried nearly matches him, as ebullient as she was in Mamma Mia! and with the intelligence she brings to HBO’s Big Love. One wonders what nuances she will reveal in Atom Egoyan’s upcoming Chloe, with Julianne Moore. Effective pairing, indeed.
 
And so Dear John, directed by the great Lasse Hallstrom from the popular novel by Nicholas Sparks, is a boy meets girl, girl loses boy, times passes, things change… Well, you get the point. It’s an inviting film that follows an established romantic formula—timeless, you might say—yet timely as well, with references to war and the emotional tolls of battle separation, autism and troubled family relationships.
 
By the time Dear John comes to its poignant final scene, we realize we have spent a couple hours enjoying a vanishing commodity in young Hollywood stars—we like them, these two—we really like them, as someone once famously gushed.
 
I recently caught up with Channing Tatum (Chan, as he likes to be called) and Amanda Seyfried to chat about Dear John’s tumultuous couple, the age-old disconnect between parents and children, the sacrifices life forces upon us and what it really means to be in love.
 
John Tyree is a complex guy. He’s definitely has a past, and he has significant barriers to moving forward in life.
 
Channing Tatum: John definitely has a bit of a violent upbringing, which I think is his frustration with not knowing how to communicate. He didn’t learn social tact from his father and that’s frustrating for a kid like John, who wants to be in touch with people. I think that is what the whole film is about for him. He joins the military to have some family and learns skills to be a man. And then he meets a beautiful girl who is going to take him to the next level—how to use his heart.
 
Amanda, what do you think it is about Savannah that we connect with? She’s a free spirit in a way, but she doesn’t lose sight of reality.
 
Amanda Seyfried: She has an open-mindedness. It is really easy to connect to people who do, and to want to wish them well. You want to see them happy and you want to relate to those kinds of people that are openhearted and free. It is really important for her to have that characteristic because John needs to feel comfortable and not afraid to be judged. He is mysterious and shy and has had an interesting childhood and connection to his father. So that was really important to bring across. You needed to see how she was able to draw John into her life so immediately. Also, she is really smart and you get to see that right away. She has good instincts because he makes a grand gesture that really hits her. She knows that someone who would do that is someone she would need to know.
 
Chan, you mentioned John’s relationship with his father, well played by Richard Jenkins. During the film, it occurred to me that unless you share something in common with your parents—in Dear John they share a passion for coin collecting—it is very easy to drift apart once you become adults.
 
CT: I totally agree with you, for sure. It’s really rare nowadays because kids are so different than how their parents grew up. I guess that has always been between parents and children, but time and evolution and society grows so fast. It’s like technology. For example, electronics today are outdated tomorrow. And that echoes in a relationship with a father and a son. And sometimes, it’s so much easier to talk to someone that is not your family. My best friend has an amazing relationship with his father. I have an amazing relationship with my parents, but if there is a problem, we may not talk about it, sometimes for a couple years. It will come up in some other time or situation.
 
You have some very effective, quiet scenes with Jenkins—a lot is said, with little, between those two characters.
 
CT: It’s such a beautiful relationship. His father has something about him that you learn about, which explains why he is not very good at handling the adolescent problems that a son can have. But as John learns, through Savannah, how to love, it enables him to understand his parents more than he did when we was growing up. When you are growing up, you just do not have that experience and often, it can be like, “You don’t understand me,” or “I know better because you are the kid.” I was exactly guilty of that. “You don’t know what it’s like to be me.” And as parents, they want the best for you and don’t want you to make the same mistakes that they made and it’s very hard for a parent to let their child figure it out for themselves. And that is one thing John’s dad did do.
 
Amanda, one of the most interesting aspects of Dear John is that Savannah enters the lives of two sets of fathers and sons and changes them both.
 
AS: Yes, it’s funny because the relationship with Henry Thomas’ Tim character is so undefined throughout the movie. He knew her as a young teenager and so she was basically his son’s babysitter, friend and older sister. And that is really important for a child, especially a non-typical one, and she completed a family and they learned what they were missing—a female for them. And both John and his father needed someone to connect them. She opens John up so he is finally able to see what hasn’t been said or communicated all of his life.
 
When John meets Savannah, he is very decisive and knows what he wants. Do you believe it is possible to fall in love over two weeks?
 
CT: I think I’ve thought it and maybe even said it in two weeks. I’m a person who knows how I feel at that moment. I am never gray. I am like, “I want this. I know that. I love you.” I don’t really wait for the journey and I know exactly what I want. I have always been a relationship guy. I believe in love. I get that from my mother and father.
 
Amanda, what about this story affected you enough to want to be a part of it?
 
AS: What attracted me was the chance to be in a realistic love story. All of the elements around the heart of the film are things we are dealing with in society. Everybody knows where they were during 9/11, soldiers going overseas and families and loved ones being left behind—it’s just something that everyone can relate to. And autism is something we are learning about more and more every day—1 in 100 kids, I think. I related to Savannah because she is strong about a lot of things, which I am as well, but also because she knows who she is at a young age. And that is special. I think she is a good role model for sure. She doesn’t do things she doesn’t want to do and she gets things because she works really hard.

It’s interesting that we learn late in the film how Savannah has made her own sacrifices, after thinking that John has been the only one to give things up.
 
AS: The sacrifice John made is a parallel to the one she made. Initially, I think the audience was confused as to why the hell Savannah didn’t end up with John, so we added a scene after the seven years had gone by, at dinner, where she explains it. It’s very clear why she is doing what she is doing. It’s big of her to have done that, but she almost loses it all because he is standing right in front of her after all these years, and she cannot let him go.

Chan, I know you connected with Nicholas Sparks’ novel. What about it do you like, and who else do you like to read?
 
CT: I also like Hemingway. And Wolfe. I’m not a scholar, but I do like them. I’ve seen Sparks’ movie adaptations but this is the only novel that I have read, and he does a cathartic thing very well. Most of his stories are about communication and relationships. There is always a miscommunication or a character unable to emote, which I think has relevance today: not saying something you really want to simply because of politeness or fear of being misunderstood. We censor ourselves and don’t let things come out.
 
Is it possible for a first love like John and Savannah to last a lifetime?
 
CT: Think about your first love. Do you think you could be with your first love now—your very first love? With everything you know in your life, do you think you could have been with that first love of yours? Are you the same people that you fell in love with so long ago? I would like to say yes. I think we played it very hopeful. I want to say yes, that John and Savannah end up together. I don’t know if they do.
 
What about you, Amanda? Do you feel hopeful about their future together?
 
AS: Oh yes. While shooting the movie, in my mind I felt like, “However the movie ends, fine, but these people are going to get back together at some point. They are so madly in love with each other that they cannot stay away.” It doesn’t come full circle and that is really unique. You need to leave with some hope.
 
A love story can be played many different ways from melodrama to realism. How do you truthfully play such an abstract concept?
 
AS: Well, I know what I do when I’m in love. I am the romantic in every possible way, in love with nature, when I’m traveling I’m running and seeing culture and the world, the connection I have with my family, crazy about my friends which fills me with so much happiness. I’m so connected to that. And I could make myself cry talking about things that make me feel love. And of course, there are many types of love in life. It is so easy to pull from that in my body. And of course, even if I was feeling down or depressed while I was shooting this movie, I could just hide—and it’s easy to draw from that part of you to access those emotions. For me, it’s quite easy to play in love. Maybe it isn’t for some people.
 
Chan, you’ve played soldiers in two films now and both have a current political relevance. What are your thoughts on the profile of a soldier?
 
CT: There was more war in Stop/Loss and we actually tried to take some of that out of this film. We did not want to make a meal out of 9/11. Any time that we take John out of the uniform we were telling a story about kids who fall in love. As an actor, I will never say that I know what it’s like to understand what a real soldier goes through. I don’t think anyone—I don’t care what you do—can know that. I gained an immense amount of respect. I could pontificate what I feel a soldier goes through, but at the end of the day they are just normal, everyday people in extraordinary circumstances and it just so happens they are fighting a war. They have feelings like everybody else, and it doesn’t make you a different person because you signed on the dotted line that you are a soldier. They get afraid. They are happy. It is exciting and fulfilling at times. Just like normal people. I am so tired of seeing Hollywood depict soldiers not in the greatest light or enterprising on situations because they are horrible, dramatic and really moving. I just wanted to show that they are people.
 
I believe the distinguishing characteristic that sets you apart from your contemporaries is a very available sensitivity that is right at the surface. I saw it in Stop/Loss, Fighting and certainly in this film. You don’t shy away from emotions and you cry easily. You don’t hold back, where other young actors do.
 
CT: I think I have gone through a lot of growth in my life. I have always been an emotional person. Whether I was volatile or frustrated, I have always tried to figure it out. I don’t know if it is because of my parents, where I was from, my sister or whoever, for some reason I definitely wanted to figure out why I was feeling the way I was feeling—at all times. For example, “Why am I angry right now? I am pissed off for no reason.” I took in a lot of people around me. I learned a lot from my dad and mom and their relationship. It isn’t perfect but they are great together. I always wanted to learn from other people so I could take that into myself. I take the good things from everybody. So I was emotional. Some people are very comfortable going in that direction. I am. It feels good for me to get it out. If I am pissed, I want to get it out. If I am happy, you will see me dancing. I like to live in that.
 
Amanda, Chan has described you as, “Nuts…out of your mind…”  What do you think that means?

AS: (Laughs) We have a very similar way that we like to work, which is fool around as much as you can before the camera starts rolling. Making a film can be so boring depending upon whom you are working with or what you are doing. And if you are always in character and in that mode, it is really difficult to keep it real for the cameras. So we fooled around and had a lot of time to play and our director, Lasse Hallstrom may seem serious, but he ain’t. He was just as bad as us, and would really instigate things. I really don’t know how we got this movie made. It was the best experience I have had making a movie. I have never had so much fun.
 
Chan, since the last time we met, you got married and now are starring in your first adult love story. What are your thoughts on the idea of love? What does it really mean to you?
 
CT: I think if everything went away you would just want to be with that person and grow together and make each other better. Every day I wake up, and if all of this went away tomorrow I would be totally fine. I wouldn’t even give a sh*t. I would be almost happy that it was all gone so I wouldn’t have to worry about it, because it is stressful. I could just go away and have a little more of a normal life and be with that person. Just spend time and help the other person grow.