Scarlett Johnson and Channing Tatum are joining forces on screen for a film that is bound to be out of this world.
The two star in “Fly Me to the Moon,” a romantic comedy that follows marketing executive Kelly Jones, played by Scarlett, and NASA official Cole Davis, who Channing plays, as they fall for each other while preparing for the Apollo 11 moon landing.
This marks the first time Scarlett and Channing have worked together on a project and even though they only officially met during the table read, they told Access Hollywood’s guest correspondent Emily Orozco that they bonded instantly.
“I mean we’d met each other before in the past but had not spent time together,” Scarlett said. “And then I think you came to the table read then it just—I don’t know—it felt like it was so natural, as if we knew each other before,” she added noting they have a lot of friends in common. “We’ve also been working forever, and we both have daughters around the same age, we’ve all kind of been through some similar stuff so it was just like, ‘Ok, tell me about what happened to you.’”
“Fly Me to the Moon” was also extra special for Scarlett because she got to share the screen with her husband Colin Jost who makes a cameo in the film—which came as a surprise to her!
“I knew moments before. Not that long before because I think our director Greg Berlanti, who’s the best, he and Colin sort of have their own bromance going on and I think he really was just excited,” she told Access.
Watching Scarlett and Colin act together was quite the treat for Channing!
“It was such a good time. It was so fun to just sit and watch,” he said admitting he is a big fan of the “Saturday Night Live” star. “And to get to watch them play together in a scene. Because a scene is a really interesting thing, you know different dynamics happen. It’s really kind of what’s happening underneath, and really, I get the third show, what’s happening in between the two of them and it was real fun. The unsaid spoken stuff.”
All jokes aside, the “Magic Mike” star said it was “actually really beautiful” to watch them on set together.
“They were super sweet, and you could tell they really respect each other,” he said.
Scarlett, who also produced the film, revealed why she fought so hard to get it made.
“It’s so hard to get a studio to agree to an original idea because there’s just so much, you know, it’s very expensive to make films. It’s an industry that is—it’s a hard industry,” she told Access. “[When] something works I think a lot times studios just kind of want to go with what they feel like is a safe bet. There’s like an education piece that comes with an original idea. It doesn’t have the [intellectual property] to lean on.”
But Scarlett explained the script and concept made it worth fighting for.
“So when you get something that’s such a great script that feels so fresh and feels like this big piece that’s both nostalgic but also like again, has this kind of freshness to it, you want to promote that because I think audiences also want that too,” she said. “So, it’s a fight worth having and then you hope that people will go and see it.”
“Fly Me to the Moon” hits theaters July 12.