Channing Tatum Shares Tip for Couples ‘Thinking About’ Marriage — It Worked for Him and Zöe Kravitz

For any couples thinking about marriage, Channing Tatum recommends tackling “the hardest possible creative project” together, he tells PEOPLE.

Tatum, 44, who appears in the new rom-com Fly Me to the Moon opposite Scarlett Johansson, has another movie debuting this summer: Blink Twice, a thriller directed by his now-fiancée Zoë Kravitz, 35.

Though they weren’t a couple when they made the film, Tatum says the process was ultimately good for their relationship. “This is what I'll say about creating with someone that you are with or love: I suggest it,” Tatum says.

“If you are thinking about having a kid or if you're thinking about getting married, go find the hardest possible creative project with your partner,” he adds.

He says the key is not only surviving it, but enjoying the process as well.

“It was so hard to make the movie,” he says of Blink Twice. “ Probably one of the hardest movies that I've worked on… for a lot of different reasons.”

“But when you can look across the room or the set and know that you have the best person that is next to you trying to solve problems, and you're really looking to them for answers just as equally as trying to solve them yourself, that is unbelievable,” he says.

In Blink Twice, Tatum plays tech billionaire Slater King, who invites Frida (Naomi Ackie), a cocktail waitress he meets, to a getaway on his private island with a group of his friends. 

“Wild nights blend into sun soaked days and everyone's having a great time. No one wants this trip to end, but as strange things start to happen, Frida begins to question her reality,” according to an official synopsis of the film. “There is something wrong with this place. She’ll have to uncover the truth if she wants to make it out of this party alive.”

Kravitz, who co-wrote the script with E.T. Feigenbaum told Deadline in 2021 she had Tatum in mind when developing the character of Slater King.

"[He was the one] I thought of when I wrote this character," she said. "I just knew from Magic Mike and his live shows, I got the sense he's a true feminist and I wanted to collaborate with someone who was clearly interested in exploring this subject matter."

Tatum, who shares daughter Everly, 11, with ex wife Jenna Dewan, 43, and Kravitz became involved after they made the movie and got engaged in 2023.

In April, a source told PEOPLE Tatum and Kravitz were “actively wedding planning and working through all the details,” adding that the two were “really excited about it.”

Fly Me to the Moon, Tatum's other summer film, is much lighter fare than Blink Twice. In the 1960s-set rom-com, Tatum plays a NASA flight director overseeing the moon landing who butts heads with (and falls for) a PR exec (Johansson) tasked with filming a fake version of the feat in case the real thing goes awry.

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Though they play a couple on screen, Tatum and Johansson’s dynamic in real life is more like that of siblings. 

On set, “I immediately went into ‘just make fun of her’ mode. I have a big sister, so I’m pretty good at annoying girls,” recalls Tatum.

Adds Johansson wryly: “I can attest to that, definitely.” 

Fly Me to the Moon is in theaters July 12.

For more on Channing Tatum and Scarlett Johansson, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE.