Tatum soldiers on with army roles

Actor Channing Tatum was happy to take on the role of a soldier in upcoming military drama Dear John - because he is sick of the way Hollywood portrays war heroes.

The star played an army sergeant in the 2008 film Stop-Loss, which focused on soldiers returning from Iraq.

And he was delighted to play a military man again - because after meeting a group of army recruits, he realised they are often wrongly portrayed as "screwed up" in movies.

Tatum says, "I sort of became infatuated with soldiers. I got to know some of them and got a little perturbed with Hollywood making a spectacle out of them and making them look like they have screwed up somehow.

"(In Stop-Loss) everything that was coming out of my mouth, I didn't believe. A soldier is so noble in my mind."

And the actor was happy to try to redress the balance in Dear John: "I wanted the part because it portrays them as real, everyday people."

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