In the new MGM release, “Dog,” starring and co-directed by Channing Tatum, a military veteran finds purpose and an unlikely friendship with Lulu, a feisty Belgian Malinois Army Ranger. After initial complications and frustrations, the two slowly begin to adjust and endear themselves to each other, discovering a sense of belonging.
The story, written by co-director Reid Carolin and Brett Rodriguez, borrowed inspiration and even the name from Tatum’s beloved pit bull Catahoula mix, who passed in 2018.
“In real life, Lulu was my first dog,” Tatum said. “I raised her from almost six to eight weeks old. She was so attached to me.”
Tatum said he had always grown up around four-legged friends, so he knows the special bond they can have with their owners. Dogs, he says, are constant companions that see a person through the best and worst of times.
“These dogs get to see you in places and in states of being and emotionality and mental places that no one else gets to see,” he said. “They’re just constantly there. And I think that’s something that I wish that more people could experience.”
Carolin, Tatum’s frequent collaborator, and friend added that for Tatum’s character, Jackson Briggs, Lulu was a healing force and someone who helped him find purpose.
“He’s a guy without a tribe,” he said. “He had a tribe for his whole adult life since he was a teenager. All he knew are this world of men with who we went to war with. And then when you’re cast away from that tribe, and you’re alone, you don’t have meaning anymore. You don’t have a community to come home to. And I think Lulu provides Briggs that first sense of his new community of who he’s going to be accepted by, and who’s going to give him love and meaning and a new path in life. I think we all need that.”
Like his character, Tatum admitted that all was not smooth and easy in the beginning. For the first few years, he said he faced a “myriad of emotions” during a “psycho” phase where she constantly acted out, doing things like jumping fences and forcing him in dangerous situations chasing after her.
“I would be jumping over fences into other people’s backyards,” Tatum joked. “If I lived in Texas, I would have absolutely been shot. (My neighbors) were like, ‘What are you doing in my backyard?’”
Carolin, who knew Lulu through his friendship with Tatum, said his memories include her adventurous nature, which translated to the character in the film as well.
“I think half of the reason we went on so many road trips was because of Lulu,” he said. “Because you just look in this dog’s eyes and you knew she was like ‘Get me to the wild. There needs to be the adventure now’ and you’re like, ‘We have to go’.”
“Dog,” directed by Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin, releases this weekend from MGM. Watch the exclusive interview with Tatum, Carolin, and Reel Faith’s DeWayne Hamby below.
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