Hollywood action man left cold and scarred by filming epic in Scotland

He's known as a Hollywood action man and a heartthrob, thanks to movies such as G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra, Step Up and Dear John.

But Hollywood's Channing Tatum nearly lost both of these reputations when he came to Scotland to shoot Roman-era historical drama The Eagle.

Subzero temperatures in the Highlands made him shiver uncontrollably between takes while filming battle sequences.

And Scotland became a real sore point for the all-American beefcake when he ended up in hospital after a crew member burned his manhood with hot water.

"Don't ever go film a movie in Scotland,"joked Tatum.

"The people are amazing, it's beautiful - but for the most part you are going to be wet and soaked all the way through. Plus I had the worst scalding in my life."

The film was shot around Wester Ross and Loch Lomond.

Tatum, 30, plays Marcus Aquila, a second-century Roman army officer determined to to find out what happened to Rome's 9th Legion, commanded by his father, which disappeared north of Hadrian's Wall 20 years earlier.

Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell plays a British slave and Channing's reluctant guide.

Most of Tatum's scenes were filmed outdoors in weather that was a far cry from the southern US state of Alabama, where he was born, and Florida, where he was raised.

He revealed: "Every single day, I was freezing in a costume that was no more than a few thin strips of leather.

"I got mild hypothermia, and Jamie Bell almost collapsed."

The actor was chosen for the movie by Scots director Kevin Macdonald, who also made The Last King Of Scotland, which won Forest Whitaker the Oscar for best actor in 2007.

Up against bad weather and short winter days, cast and crew had to work long hours. One day Kevin even asked the actors to work through until dark without a break to stay on schedule.

Tatum said: "We were losing the light so we shot until we ran out of film.

"Afterwards, I could hardly breathe, I was so exhausted. But real Romans fought for weeks at a time, sometimes months.

"They would march, then they would build camp, then they would fight, then they would march and build and fight more. I really don't know how they did it.

"I'd come back to Scotland again in a heartbeat because the Highlands are beautiful and the people are amazing - but I'd make sure it was summer.

"We almost died there a few times. And of course, I did injure my penis."

The gruesome accident happened on a day when Tatum and his co-stars had been filming in a freezing river for 13 hours, while being pelted with rain.

Even with wetsuits on, the only way to stay warm was to have a mix of boiling water and cold river water poured down the suits. "Even then," Tatum explained, "we could only stay in the river for five minutes at a time."

After the last take, a production assistant offered Tatum a final top-up to warm himself but forgot to add the river water. The scalding liquid burned the actor's stomach - and didn't stop there.

He said: "I got warmed up all right. In pulling the wet suit away from my body, the water it ran all the way down - let's just say some very private parts of me were scalded. Boiled."

On the way to the hospital, Tatum begged his driver, an ex-forces marine, to knock him out. He said: "I don't know if you've ever burnt your finger but afterwards it keeps on burning for hours.

"To distract me in the car being rushed to hospital, they switched on the radio - and it was the Kings of Leon singing Sex On Fire. Even I laughed at that. But it's the most suffocating pain I've ever felt.

"The paramedic was like, 'I know it's no consolation now but it's good that it's hurting because that means there's no nerve damage. I was like, 'Thank God!' and went back into screaming."

The water took most of the skin from the end of his extremities yet, despite the seriousness of his injury, Tatum was back on set the next day. He said: "I suppose it helped with the acting because my character was supposed to be injured anyway. Just not there."

The good-natured actor can see the funny side - he even took pictures of the injury with his iPhone. He also insisted the crew member who boiled his bits stayed working on the film.

He said: "For weeks at a time, he was running up and down between us and a truck for 13 hours a day. All he was trying to do was keep us warm."

There are also no hard feelings towards Scotland, he added: "It has some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. But it's very, very harsh. I'll never do a period drama in the north of Scotland again."

Tatum proved popular around Achiltibuie, where he happily chatted to curious film fans and posed for pictures.

But he admits that at first he struggled to understand the Scots accent: "People kept saying, how you doing pal? And I was going, who's Paul?" Though from different countries and of very different builds - former stripper Tatum is a strapping 6ft 1in and almost became an American footballer, while Bell is a slender 5ft 7in - the film's two stars both found fame through dancing.

Bell became an award-winner 11 years ago, at the age of 14, as ballet-dancing Billy Elliot, while one of Tatum's first major hits was as a hiphop dancer who teams up with a bellerina in the 2006 film Step Up. They became pals off-screen and got competitive about action scenes.

Tatum said: "That kid made everything a competition. And he's fast!" To help him prepare for The Eagle, director Macdonald gave Tatum the diary of a Roman leader. He also listened to books on tape about Roman history while on location in the Highlands, which helped him stay in character.

He said: "I may not be the best actor.

But I'll work harder than anyone. I've done 10million different things. You name it - modeling, selling perfume, stripping."

Tatum married his Step Up co-star, Jenna Dewan, and the couple live in Los Angeles. His star continues to rise and he is set to star with Ewan McGregor in Steven Soderbergh's action thriller Haywire, before returning to romance with The Vow, opposite Rachel McAdams.

But he also has another project in mind, which suggests he's a fast healer: "I can't wait until I have a child. I am looking forward to embarrassing them to no end.'' The Eagle is screening at the GFT on Sunday as part of the Glasgow Film Festival and goes on general release on March 25.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7pa3IpbCrnZOkv6V6wqhlrqNfmru1sdGtmKKmnZq7tXvCnqOemqKewbp7x6ijpbGnpLylecCcq6KnnmK6orqMpZyfrF2YvK2wjGpncm1mbIM%3D