By Anne Steele and Amanda Stonely, News Correspondents

Fresh from the battlefields of G.I. Joe and Dear John, Channing Tatum steps into a third – but very different – soldier role in “The Eagle.” Tatum’s upcoming film tells the tale of a Roman army officer in 140 A.D. who is desperately trying to restore his family’s name no matter what the risk. Tatum sat down with Boston reporters, including correspondents from The News, as well as student reporters from Emerson and Harvard. In a comfortable, down-to-earth interview, Tatum shared about getting his childhood “dream part,” riding horses, and pressure in the business of film-making. He also opened up about figuring out his role in life and the importance of failure.

You mentioned playing this sort of role in “The Eagle” was one of your childhood dreams. Did it live up to it?

Yeah, in so many different ways. And in ways I never imagined … Even in a movie like this, you get to get a glimpse for a second of what it would’ve been like. You know, even though it’s a movie … when you’re in a battle and a scrum like that you can’t even imagine. But these guys fought for weeks at a time, sometimes months. I wish I could I say I was that tough. I would never have been able to do it, they were just different men back then.

How did you prepare for such a physical role?
It was really kinda funny, Kevin [Macdonald, film director] was like, ‘You know, I don’t want you to look like you’ve been at the gym’ and I was like, ‘That’s awesome.’ I was like, great, done, that’s gonna be perfect for me and when I show up he’s like, ‘Ah, I was thinking, tighter.’ And I’m like, ‘you said you didn’t want me to work out for it’ and he was like ‘tighter, let’s just go tighter.’ And I’m like alright, so chicken, broccoli and running. You know these guys had no fat in their diet … they were just wiry, tough men.

Didn’t you spend a lot of time on the horse, too?

Yeah. Thankfully I’ve ridden pretty much my whole life on and off, I’ve never had a horse of my own, but being from Alabama you can find a chance to get on a horse every now and then… but this was really, really riding. The horse master looked over at me one time and was like ‘We have never done this dangerous of riding with actors ever.’

Were you ever concerned about getting injured or falling off?

Oh, you’re always, always concerned… there’s a reason there’s no horses in the highlands. Because it’s so wet and boggy… as soon as a person steps somewhere one time, it’s a mud pit. We were obviously concerned, they were walking on rocks… we had some of the best horses you can find in the business, they’re so smart and safe and they take care of you.

Do you find you ever get intimidated working with certain actors? In this film you got to work with Donald Sutherland.

Of course! You know, I’m intimidated by Jamie Bell. They’re all top-notch.  I look around in the movie and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m the weakest link. Everyone here’s been nominated for something’ … This is the highest pedigree of movie I’ve ever done.

You were the leading role in this movie, as opposed to other movies where you’ve been co-starring more. What was that like?

You try not to think of that because you can get it in your head and you can feel panicky about it because it’s just a lot of pressure. If the movie doesn’t do good or you’re not good in the movie, you know, it will hurt you, it will hurt your career … You just have to put yourself in the hands of your director. Kevin is so smart [he’s an] an amazing filmmaker.

You mention a lot about how you explore different creative outlets like acting, modeling, and writing. Any advice for the younger generation figuring out what they want to do?

Just do it … If you think you might want to do something, don’t wait. Start failing early. I wanna go direct one day, I’m going to start failing early at it, so hopefully by the time I’m older I can have more experience of life and the industry. Whatever it is, just do it. If you wanna sculpt, and you don’t know how to sculpt, go buy some clay and just do it. Just don’t try to do anything perfect. Set yourself up to fail, literally, so you can know where you’re not supposed to be.