Channing Tatum, who started his career as a model, is having a full-circle moment as he stars in his first fragrance campaign for Versace. “That was always kind of like the big job. You wanted to get the fragrance thing, and I just never was like one of the big, big models,” Tatum recently told Vanity Fair. “And just to get to step into this place in my life, I’ve sort of been doing everything that I’ve always wanted to do. Now I’ve directed, and I’m getting to do some of the types of movies that I’ve always wanted to do. It’s a real kind of climactic moment in general, and in my life and in my personal life. And to get to check this off and be like, Man, I’m getting to do something that I always dreamed about, but just not in the way and the timing that I always thought I was going to get to do it—you never know when things are going to come around.”
In a spot for the brand’s new eau de parfum pour homme, Eros Energy, the Blink Twice actor is reimagined as Eros, the mythological Greek god of love, running in the race of his life toward his passions and goals. It’s a fitting association for a fragrance inspired by the Mediterranean coastline, with notes of blood orange, pink peppercorn, black currant, and patchouli.
Courtesy of Versace.
“It just smelled so fresh and energetic. I think of my senses as kind of my mood in a way,” Tatum said. “I think of the scent as the last garnish on a meal or like the cherry on top. You know, you craft your outfit, you do your hair, and then the last thing is you put your scent on and then you go. It’s sort of the last signature on your intention for the day.”
Before the campaign’s release, Tatum spoke to Vanity Fair about playing Eros, what he’s most passionate about, and what it was like to work alongside his partner, Zoë Kravitz, on her directorial debut, Blink Twice.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Vanity Fair: You’ve had a long-standing relationship with Versace. Tell me how this all got started.
Channing Tatum: It goes all the way back to when I was just a model; I would go to Milan, and that was one of the first shows every season for the Italian shows. I would stand in the line and with my little book of pictures as a model, and you just hope to get to walk. But I actually never got to walk for them. I think I got close to one of their campaigns, but it didn’t happen.
So then I became an actor, and they’ve just been really good to me throughout the years, and I got to go to the Met with them. I just really love Donatella [Versace]. She’s just such an icon. It doesn’t really get more iconic than her. She’s seen it all, done it all, but it’s still her. It’s still her and her brother’s brand; it’s still a family thing. As someone that runs my own businesses now, but I’m still like a hometown kid, I love when people really love what they do and put their actual life and passion into it, and not just look at it like it’s a chess piece on a larger business sort of model. You can just tell she cares, and I’m just so glad to be involved on a more intimate level now with her.
What I’ve always loved about the brand is that while it is one of the younger Italian brands, it is truly quintessential ’80s/’90s. And while we must acknowledge Gianni for his foresight in starting the brand, what we know Versace as today, and the past 27 years, is all Donatella.
I’m an ’80s/’90s baby, and I think that’s why the brand does mean so much to me. When you say Versace, you just go, Oh, you made it! You did the thing. It’s like Versace good.