It’s very important for a young man to have a mentor but when it comes to the hit movie Magic Mike, the skills Joe Manganiello learned from Channing Tatum were less about career-advancement and more along the lines of partying, picking up ladies, and making some easy cash.
Both stars of the film sat down with B96/Chicago to discuss the inspiration, 50 Shades of Grey, and surviving Stripper Boot Camp.
“Chan Crawford” (Tatum’s former stripper name) revealed, “I did a little stint as a stripper in Florida. I was having a beer with [Steven] Soderbergh after I was working with him about a year and a half ago, and I told him about my past. He was like that would make the craziest movie. We gotta do it!.”
He admits that when he reminisces about his stripping days, all he can take from it is that he wasn’t tarnished by his experience. “It was a crazy time in my life. It wasn’t a fond time, but you can look back and say ‘I survived that,’ and I came out pretty unscathed. Some people didn’t.”
Even though Channing’s past inspired the script, it’s not an autobiography. “It’s not the real story. Nothing is actually factual in the movie other than I was eighteen years old when I went in, and I had a sister. If we put the actual events in there, you just wouldn’t believe it.”
What does Channing’s wife think about Magic Mike? Tatum reports that she loves it. She has read 50 Shades of Grey and tells him all about it, all the time. No one’s come to him yet about the lead role in the film adaptation, but he can’t imagine women going out to see that movie together.
He shared, “I’m interested to see how that movie does. I’m wondering if women want to go and sit next to each other while that’s happening onscreen. I think it’s really fun for y’all to talk about it, but do we all want to just sit and watch soft core masochistic porn?”
Since Channing is a fan of True Blood, they had Joe Manganiello in mind while they were writing the script. Joe remembers the call. “Hey man, we want you to play Big Dick Richie? ‘What do I have to do?’ I read the script; okay fireman, gold statue, p**** pump, Steven Soderbergh, okay I’m in.”
All of the actors had to go through Stripper Boot Camp. Joe described the experience as, “having to learn the basic stripping moves, routines, and as soon as you get offstage, you want to get back up there.” Joe comes from an athletic background, which made his role much easier to portray.
Magic Mike is currently playing in theaters and has pulled in a total of $57.2 million to date.
-Danielle Clasing, B96/Chicago
