Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Channing Tatum are out making the promotional rounds for Stop-Loss -- or trying to, anyway.

Both actors are also starring in Stephen Sommers' upcoming G.I. Joe, so it's pretty much a given that at least 60 percent of the questions they're being asked have to do with the more fanboy-friendly film of the two. This was certainly the case when Gordon-Levitt and Tatum sat down with Collider recently, and the two stars proved themselves willing to drop a few tidbits about their journeys to Real American Hero-dom.

Gordon-Levitt has thus far only been confirmed to play "a major role" in Joe, which got him halfway off the hook as far as describing his experiences behind the scenes -- but he did open up to Collider about what drew him to the project:

Well, what attracted me to being in 'G.I. Joe' was when they showed me the drawings of the character that I was going to get to play. I love the idea of just getting to play something way, way larger and huger than life. It's kind of the opposite of 'Stop Loss,' in fact. 'Stop Loss' is a realistic portrayal of what it's like to be a solider today...'G.I. Joe' is not layered or profound at all; it's just a big thrill ride...it's like, have some fun. And it's a lot of fun. And when I saw those drawings of the character I was going to get to play, I got that feeling of like just being a kid and wow, that's so cool, and I get to be that, and yeah...that's why I wanted to do it.

(Collider then proceeded to ask Gordon-Levitt about rumors that he's starring in the upcoming Akira remake, and received the standard "I haven't seen the script" response.)

Channing Tatum was more forthcoming about what fans can expect from the live-action G.I. Joe -- to the extent that we aren't going to reprint all of his comments here, for fear of sending you into spoiler shock. But we can share that, like many of you, Tatum wasn't initially too keen on the idea of the movie:

You know, I was originally opposed to it. Especially coming off of 'Stop-Loss,' playing a soldier about a really sensitive topic? I had no interest in going to play a fake soldier in a hyper-real kind of fantasy war. I was just like, "Nope. No thanks," and then it came back around and I met on it, and I read the script finally, and the script was great. It actually has nothing to do with war, nothing to do at all. It's 'X-Men' and 'Mission Impossible,' 'Star Wars.' That's how it is. I got kind of excited about it and jumped on.

To read the rest of what Joseph Gordon Levitt and Channing Tatum had to say about G.I. Joe -- currently scheduled for an August 7, 2009 release -- follow the links below!

Source: Collider (Channing Tatum)
Source: Collider (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)