Moviefone Editorial

Tag: magic-mike

Best Channing Tatum Movies

Channing Tatum as Mike Lane in Warner Bros. Pictures’ musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo: Claudette Barius. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Channing Tatum is one of the most popular actors working today.

The dancer turned actor first gained attention for his work in ‘Step Up’ and has since gone on to star in the ‘G.I. Joe,’ ’21 Jump Street’ and ‘Magic Mike’ franchises, as well as acclaimed films like ‘Foxcatcher,’ ‘The Hateful Eight,’ ‘Hail, Caesar!,’ ‘Logan Lucky,’ and ‘The Lost City.’

Tatum’s latest movie, ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ the third film in the series, is scheduled for release in theaters on February 10th. Once again directed by Steven Soderbergh, the new movie also stars Salma Hayek Pinault.

In honor of the release of ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ Moviefone is counting down the 30 best films of Channing Tatum’s career.

Let’s begin!

30. ‘G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra‘ (2009)

Paramount Pictures

From the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite G.I. JOE team uses the latest in next-generation spy and military equipment to fight the corrupt arms dealer Destro (Christopher Eccleston) and the growing threat of the mysterious Cobra organization to prevent them from plunging the world into chaos. Starring Tatum, Ray Park, Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, and Marlon Wayans.
38926

29. ‘The Dilemma‘ (2011)

Longtime friends Ronny (Vince Vaughn) and Nick (Kevin James) are partners in an auto-design firm. They are hard at work on a presentation for a dream project that would really launch their company. Then Ronny spots Nick’s wife (Winona Ryder) out with another man (Tatum), and in the process of investigating the possible affair, he learns that Nick has a few secrets of his own. As the presentation nears, Ronny agonizes over what might happen if the truth gets out.
10039653

28. ‘The Son of No One‘ (2011)

A rookie cop (Tatum) is assigned to the 118 Precinct in the same district where he grew up. The Precinct Captain (Ray Liotta) starts receiving letters about two unsolved murders that happened many years ago in the housing projects when the rookie cop was just a kid. These letters bring back bad memories and old secrets that begin to threaten his career and break up his family. Also starring Katie Holmes, Juliette Binoche, Tracy Morgan, and Al Pacino.
10053469

27. ‘Fighting‘ (2009)

Small-town boy Shawn MacArthur (Tatum) has come to New York City with nothing. Barely earning a living selling counterfeit goods on the streets, his luck changes when scam artist Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) sees that he has a natural talent for streetfighting. When Harvey offers Shawn help at making the real cash, the two form an uneasy partnership.
31269

26. ‘Coach Carter‘ (2005)

Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.
19345

25. ‘Jupiter Ascending‘ (2015)

Warner Bros. Pictures

In a universe where human genetic material is the most precious commodity, an impoverished young Earth woman (Mila Kunis) becomes the key to strategic maneuvers and internal strife within a powerful dynasty. Also starring Tatum, Sean Bean, and Eddie Redmayne.
10118984

24. ‘Magic Mike XXL‘ (2015)

Three years after Mike (Tatum) bowed out of the stripper life at the top of his game, he and the remaining Kings of Tampa hit the road to Myrtle Beach to put on one last blow-out performance.
20061972

23. ‘Stop-Loss‘ (2008)

A veteran soldier (Ryan Phillippe) returns from his completed tour of duty in Iraq, only to find his life turned upside down when he is arbitrarily ordered to return to field duty by the Army. Also starring Tatum, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant and Abbie Cornish.
24475

22. ‘Dear John‘ (2010)

While Sergeant John Tyree (Tatum) is home on two weeks leave from Germany, he meets Savannah (Amanda Seyfried) after he dives into the ocean to retrieve Savannah’s purse that had fallen off a pier. John eventually falls in love with Savannah, who promises to write to him until he returns from overseas.
37012

21. ‘The Book of Life‘ (2014)

The journey of Manolo (Diego Luna), a young man who is torn between fulfilling the expectations of his family and following his heart. Before choosing which path to follow, he embarks on an incredible adventure that spans three fantastical worlds where he must face his greatest fears. Also featuring the voices of Tatum, Zoe Saldana, and Ice Cube.
59819

20. ‘22 Jump Street‘ (2014)

Columbia Pictures

After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) when they go deep undercover at a local college. But when Jenko meets a kindred spirit on the football team, and Schmidt infiltrates the bohemian art major scene, they begin to question their partnership. Now they don’t have to just crack the case – they have to figure out if they can have a mature relationship. If these two overgrown adolescents can grow from freshmen into real men, college might be the best thing that ever happened to them.
10125018

19. ‘Smallfoot‘ (2018)

A bright young yeti (Tatum) finds something he thought didn’t exist—a human (James Corden). News of this “smallfoot” throws the simple yeti community into an uproar over what else might be out there in the big world beyond their snowy village.
jy8kBTkehLVGBBRWVqb5K7

18. ‘Public Enemies‘ (2009)

Depression-era bank robber John Dillinger’s (Johnny Depp) charm and audacity endear him to much of America’s downtrodden public, but he’s also a thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup) and the fledgling FBI. Desperate to capture the elusive outlaw, Hoover makes Dillinger his first Public Enemy Number One and assigns his top agent, Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), the task of bringing him in dead or alive. Tatum plays Charles “Pretty Boy” Floyd.
32262

17. ‘Side Effects‘ (2013)

A woman (Rooney Mara) turns to prescription medication as a way of handling her anxiety concerning her husband’s (Tatum) upcoming release from prison. Also starring Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
57075

16. ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation‘ (2013)

Framed for crimes against the country, the G.I. Joe team is terminated by Presidential order. This forces the G.I. Joes into not only fighting their mortal enemy Cobra; they are forced to contend with threats from within the government that jeopardize their very existence. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, Ray Park and Tatum.
53532

15. ‘The Eagle‘ (2011)

Focus Features

In 140 AD, twenty years after the unexplained disappearance of the entire Ninth Legion in the mountains of Scotland, young centurion Marcus Aquila (Tatum) arrives from Rome to solve the mystery and restore the reputation of his father, the commander of the Ninth. Accompanied only by his British slave Esca (Jamie Bell), Marcus sets out across Hadrian’s Wall into the uncharted highlands of Caledonia – to confront its savage tribes, make peace with his father’s memory, and retrieve the lost legion’s golden emblem, the Eagle of the Ninth.
1408260

14. ‘Haywire‘ (2011)

A black ops soldier (Gina Carano) seeks payback after she is betrayed and left for dead. Also starring Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, and Michael Douglas.
10014848

13. ‘The Vow‘ (2012)

Happy young married couple Paige (Rachel McAdams) and Leo (Tatum) are, well, happy. Then a car accident puts Paige into a life-threatening coma. Upon awakening she has lost the previous five years of memories, including those of her beloved Leo, her wedding, a confusing relationship with her parents, or the ending of her relationship with her ex-fiance (Scott Speedman). Despite these complications, Leo endeavors to win her heart again and rebuild their marriage.
52482

12. ‘Step Up‘ (2006)

Everyone deserves a chance to follow their dreams, but some people only get one shot. Tyler Gage (Tatum) is a rebel from the wrong side of Baltimore’s tracks and the only thing that stands between him and an unfulfilled life are his dreams of one day making it out of there. Nora (Jenna Dewan) is a privileged ballet dancer attending Baltimore’s ultra-elite Maryland School of the Arts.
25911

11. ‘White House Down‘ (2013)

Capitol Policeman John Cale (Tatum) has just been denied his dream job with the Secret Service of protecting President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). Not wanting to let down his little girl (Joey King) with the news, he takes her on a tour of the White House, when the complex is overtaken by a heavily armed paramilitary group. Now, with the nation’s government falling into chaos and time running out, it’s up to Cale to save the president, his daughter, and the country.
10085035

10. ‘Dog‘ (2022)

Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

‘Dog’ is a buddy comedy that follows the misadventures of two former Army Rangers paired against their will on the road trip of a lifetime. Army Ranger Briggs (Tatum) and Lulu (a Belgian Malinois dog) buckle into a 1984 Ford Bronco and race down the Pacific Coast in hopes of making it to a fellow soldier’s funeral on time. Along the way, they’ll drive each other completely crazy, break a small handful of laws, narrowly evade death, and learn to let down their guards in order to have a fighting chance of finding happiness.
HkuRFWagkMY22tmx9dv7D5

9. ‘Logan Lucky‘ (2017)

Trying to reverse a family curse, brothers Jimmy (Tatum) and Clyde Logan (Adam Driver) set out to execute an elaborate robbery during the legendary Coca-Cola 600 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Also starring Daniel Craig, Riley Keough, Katie Holmes, Sebastian Stan, Seth MacFarlane, and Hilary Swank.
6sgLIIpOjUyPvSONt1DFP5

8. ‘The Lost City‘ (2022)

Brilliant, but reclusive author Loretta Sage (Sandra Bullock) has spent her career writing about exotic places in her popular romance-adventure novels featuring handsome cover model Alan (Tatum), who has dedicated his life to embodying the hero character, “Dash.”

While on tour promoting her new book with Alan, Loretta is kidnapped by an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) who hopes that she can lead him to the ancient lost city’s treasure from her latest story. Wanting to prove that he can be a hero in real life and not just on the pages of her books, Alan sets off to rescue her. Thrust into an epic jungle adventure, the unlikely pair will need to work together to survive the elements and find the ancient treasure before it’s lost forever. Also featuring Brad Pitt.
OrrUgGKkfGJatEGBYTUQk

7. ‘Kingsman: The Golden Circle‘ (2017)

When an attack on the Kingsman headquarters takes place and a new villain rises, Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) are forced to work together with the American agency known as the Statesman to save the world. Also starring Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Halle Berry, Pedro Pascal, Jeff Bridges, and Tatum.
20074199

6. ‘The Lego Batman Movie‘ (2017)

A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne (Will Arnett) must deal with the usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, including the Joker (Zach Galifianakis), while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan (Michael Cera) who wishes to become his sidekick. Also featuring the voice of Tatum as Superman.
20081343

5. ‘Hail, Caesar!‘ (2016)

Universal Pictures

When a Hollywood star (George Clooney) mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer (Josh Brolin) to get him back. Also starring Tatum, Jonah Hill, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton.
20071095

4. ‘21 Jump Street‘ (2012)

In high school, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) was a dork and Jenko (Tatum) was the popular jock. After graduation, both of them joined the police force and ended up as partners riding bicycles in the city park. Since they are young and look like high school students, they are assigned to an undercover unit to infiltrate a drug ring that is supplying high school students synthetic drugs. Also starring Brie Larson, Dave Franco, and Ice Cube.
50931

3. ‘Foxcatcher‘ (2015)

The greatest Olympic Wrestling Champion brother team (Mark Ruffalo and Tatum) joins Team Foxcatcher led by multimillionaire sponsor John E. du Pont (Steve Carell) as they train for the 1988 games in Seoul – a union that leads to unlikely circumstances.
10071409

2. ‘The Hateful Eight‘ (2015)

Bounty hunters seek shelter from a raging blizzard and get caught up in a plot of betrayal and deception. Directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, and Tatum.
20069251

1. ‘Magic Mike‘ (2012)

Warner Bros. Pictures

Mike (Tatum), an experienced stripper, takes a younger performer called The Kid (Alex Pettyfer) under his wing and schools him in the arts of partying, picking up women, and making easy money. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the film also stars Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Riley Keough, Olivia Munn, and Matthew McConaughey.
10059666
Zqonqqzu

February 11, 2023
Movie Review: ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’
(L to R) Salma Hayek Pinault as Maxandra Mendoza and Channing Tatum as Mike Lane in Warner Bros. Pictures musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo: Claudette Barius. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

‘Magic Mike,’ loosely inspired by the atmosphere and energy of some of star-producer Channing Tatum’s own experiences in an all-male revue as a teenager, was a huge surprise box office hit for Warner Bros. in 2012, grossing $167 million in theaters against a minuscule $7 million budget. Three years later, with director Gregory Jacobs stepping in for Steven Soderbergh behind the camera, follow-up ‘Magic Mike XXL’ grossed $123 million. A loose-limbed, well-oiled, unexpected franchise seemed born.

There’s a clarity of purpose in the first two ‘Magic Mike’ films. While actually quite different in tone, they are both movies which center the female gaze and, with goodnatured affability, invite men to ponder the fact that maybe, just maybe, there is value in working to be seen as desirable, in addition to treating women with respect. Sadly, the third installment lands in fuzzy and unfocused fashion as a sequel that’s lost its way — uncertain of what its place in the world is, or for whom it is supposed to exist.
JRZtLnMJ201cXpkoCOaJT7
A Script That Borrows From ‘Magic Mike’ Stage Show, But Still Represents Only Missed Opportunities

Interestingly, that description very much mirrors the set-up for the plot of ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ and the plight of its title character. When we first catch up with Mike, voiceover narration explains in exacting detail how Mike hasn’t been able to withstand the economic stresses of life in, and after, a pandemic. Ergo, he’s tending bar as part of the catering waitstaff at a swanky private fundraiser.

This fact could set the table for a fascinating exploration of the gig economy, or even just shifting values in an era of socioeconomic tumult and considerable uncertainty. (After all, Soderbergh and Tatum aren’t dumb.) Instead, audiences are left with what feels like a wan, dutiful, by-the-numbers effort which borrows unimaginatively from real life (Tatum directed a ‘Magic Mike Live’ London stage show in 2018) without digging down into anything of interest or substance about the character that might advance a viewer’s understanding of him, or deepen their rooting interest.

Despite Tatum’s undeniable physical prowess (“You move like water,” says one character early on), this nearly two-hour entry is vacuumed almost entirely free of gleefulness and mischievousness, two of the qualities which most elevated its predecessors. The result is a curiously flat misfire, interrupted only by a small handful of lively moments and two or three pulse-quickening, well-staged dance numbers.

Channing Tatum as Mike Lane in Warner Bros. Pictures’ musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How Much Does It Cost to Rent Channing Tatum For One Month?

The movie opens in Miami, at the aforementioned party. At the end of the evening, with Mike Lane (Tatum) having been recognized by an attendee, host Max Mendoza (Salma Hayek Pinault) asks him for a private lap dance. After initially turning her down, Mike relents when Max offers him $6,000. What follows is an acrobatic bump-and-grind session which makes creative use of various chairs, tables and support beams. Max, awakened and inspired, then insists that Mike accompany her back to London. Her proposition: stay with her for a month, and she will pay him $60,000.

In the light of day, Max’s offer comes into sharper focus. Potentially undergoing a divorce from her media scion husband, Max breezes into a historic venue the couple owns, the Rattigan Theater, and abruptly cancels the stuffy, marry-for-money-or-love costume drama, ‘Isabel Ascendant,’ that is in rehearsals. She installs Mike as the new creative director, empowers his air-quote vision, and tasks him with mounting (ahem) a new show that taps into and recreates the enlightenment she experienced from his dance.

Cue the obligatory montage, as the pair recruit an array of dancers. While Mike grapples with the realities of this incredible whirlwind experience, he also leans some on Max’s put-upon butler Victor (Ayub Khan Din) and adoptive, sardonic daughter Zadie (Jemelia George), in an effort to try to better understand his new benefactor.

(L to R) Channing Tatum as Mike Lane and Salma Hayek Pinault as Maxandra Mendoza in Warner Bros. Pictures musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo: Claudette Barius. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Related Articles: First Look Image From ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’

Are There Any Dances That Can Measure Up To the Original Film’s Ginuwine’s “Pony” Number?

Screenwriter Reid Carolin, a longtime Tatum collaborator, has received solo credit on all three movies, so one can’t reasonably accuse him of not understanding the core appeal of the franchise. Instead, the failures of ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ don’t feel egregious, or particularly active. They feel passive — in choices not made, avenues not explored. Somewhat depressingly, this leads one to the conclusion that the storytelling well here had simply run dry.

The use of Zadie (who the movie tells us is writing a novel) to provide sporadic but knowing voiceover about both Mike and her mother feels like a weird choice — a fact highlighted even further in the movie’s finale, when it runs headlong into the issue of her presence at Mike’s sexually charged stage show debut, and has Victor cover her eyes.

Additionally, Carolin’s script never really solves the set-up of Max and Mike’s complicated relationship. Nor does it take it anywhere believable. Tatum and Hayek Pinault (who replaced Thandiwe Newton after shooting had already commenced) have a good chemistry together, and the movie courts intrigue by presenting Max as an impulsive dilettante, prone to whimsically adopting new hobbies and personas that she abandons once she achieves mental equilibrium.

Salma Hayek Pinault as Maxandra Mendoza in Warner Bros. Pictures’ musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo: Claudette Barius.

While some scenes are a little uneven and work better than others, Hayek Pinault gives off an amusing manic energy throughout. So for a moment it seems as if the movie is going to use that to explore the idea of Mike’s self-checkmate owing to economic preoccupation. Unfortunately, without giving too much away, the film abandons this in favor of far more traditional plotting. This rings enormously false.

The first two ‘Magic Mike’ films were in large measure hangout movies that coasted on charisma and vibes (‘Magic Mike XXL’ in particular), while scoring points for sociological insight around the edges. Dense plotting was, to be certain, not part of their appeal. But the whole “vibe” portion of ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ never really clicks into focus, either — the supporting cast of dancers remain personality-free background players. This leaves viewers just biding time, checking their watches as they wait for the next dance sequence.

It’s here, of course, that ’Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ scores its highest marks. The original film memorably featured a solo dance set to Ginuwine’s “Pony,” and this installment has arguably two show-stoppers. Tatum’s opening dance for/with/on Hayek Pinault is a thing of rather mesmerizing beauty — bold and erotic and at times even funny. Then, after the movie makes much ado of his character not dancing, Tatum returns for a water-infused duet with ballet dancer Kylie Shea. Mixing power and grace, this sequence has an element of danger; it’s legitimately great.

Other performances include a brief, bus-set group effort used to secure the approval of a bureaucrat (don’t ask), and a twice-used recreation (once solo, once in group form in its finale) of a number that’s become a staple of live ‘Magic Mike’ stage performances, in which Mike and his charges celebrate the notion of obtaining consent from females, set to Ro James’ slinky “Permission.”

Director Steven Soderbergh on the set of Warner Bros. Pictures’ musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo: Claudette Barius. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Final Verdict

Overall, the degree to which ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ borrows from the stage show, without building out any of those numbers in a particularly compelling way, is disappointing. Emotionally, the movie doesn’t really take its title character anywhere new, and neither does it honor its new characters with complexity. This dance simply marks time, sadly reminding one of what once was in the franchise.

‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ receives 4 out of 10 stars.

(L to R) Salma Hayek Pinault as Maxandra Mendoza and Channing Tatum as Mike Lane in Warner Bros. Pictures musical comedy ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Copyright: © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Other Movies Similar to ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance:’
- ‘Magic Mike’
- ‘Magic Mike XXL’
- ‘Step-Up’
- ‘Burlesque‘
- ‘Hustlers‘
Buy Tickets: ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ Movie Showtimes

Buy ‘Magic Mike’ Movies On Amazon

‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ will be released in theaters on February, 10th from Warner Bros., and was written by Reid Carolin, and directed by Steven Soderbergh. The movie stars Salma Hayek and Channing Tatum, and is rated R for sexual material and language.
February 10, 2023
Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin Talk ‘Dog’

(L to R) Actor/director Channing Tatum and writer/director Reid Carolin on the set of ‘Dog.’ A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Photo credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/SMPSP.
© 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Opening in theaters on February 18th is the new comedy ‘Dog,” which stars Channing Tatum and was co-directed by the actor, and the writer of ‘Magic Mike,’ Reid Carolin.

The film follows U.S. Army Ranger Briggs (Tatum), as he travels down the Pacific Coast with a Belgian Malinois military working dog named Lulu, in time for her to attend her handler’s funeral in Arizona.

In addition to Tatum, the film also features Jane Adams (‘Wonder Boys’), Kevin Nash (‘John Wick’), Ethan Suplee (‘American History X’), and Bill Burr (‘The King of Staten Island’).

We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Channing Tatum and Reid Carolin about their work on ‘Dog.’
7JG7FS7b
You can read the full transcript of the interview below or watch the video in the player above.

Moviefone: To begin with, Reid, can you talk about why this was the movie you wanted to make as your directorial debut?

Reid Carolin: Well, it was a long time coming for us to direct a movie together. We’ve been wanting to do it for a long time. One of the things we learned in that process, which took many years was that it’s really true, it’s better to create what you know. It’s better to creatively go into your backyard to find the things that are really instinctively clear to you so that you don’t have to think about them too much.

A road movie was something that Channing and I wanted to do. There were things that we do in our spare time, like going on road trips and adventures with our dogs. We also wanted to honor our relationships with our dogs. Channing in particular had a really beautiful and heartbreaking story, that was the end of his story with his dog.

But we really wanted to shine a light on the bond that they had and the adventures that they had together, really at the beginning of their relationship. I felt a bond with my dog. So those were important attributes of the film. Then also the community of Army Rangers that we met making a documentary for HBO called ‘War Dog.’ We wanted to shine a light on the incredible bond between these guys and their dogs, where the line between animal and human gets really blurred.

You start to realize that the word dog or animal doesn’t really encapsulate what these beings are. They’re like brothers, sisters, family members, and they’re really humans. So, it was important for us to take people on that type of a journey, seeing a dog as a dog, and then discovering they’re so much more than that.

(L to R) Lulu the Belgian Malinois and Channing Tatum ‘Dog.’ A Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures film. Photo credit: Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/SMPSP. © 2022 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc. All Rights Reserved.

MF: Channing, making a movie with a dog can be difficult. Was this a challenging film to shoot?

Channing Tatum: Yeah. There was a lot of things that I think took place that made it only possible. We worked with Andrew Simpson, the most talented and the most premier dog handler. He specializes in Belgians and wolves. He did all the wolves for ‘Game of Thrones’ and all the Belgians in ‘John Wick.’

These dogs are very specific. They’re not like other dogs. They just aren’t. That’s why they’re used in the military. It’s why they’re used in police work and things like that. They’re very delicate in a way that you need to know their personalities and what they’re capable of to be able to use them safely. But our dogs were superheroes.

We had three of them on the movie and Brita was our hero dog. We got them at a time where we were about to start shooting in the two weeks before the pandemic, and we got to shut down. All of our dog handlers on Andrew’s team, took their dogs to their homes for the entire pandemic and kept working with them. Then I would work with them as soon as the pandemic was done and leading up to our movie.

So, I think by the end of it, we almost had a year before we actually went to picture, and we really needed it. We needed to understand these dogs on a really intimate level to be able to get the performances that we got out of them.
HkuRFWagkMY22tmx9dv7D5

February 20, 2022
‘Magic Mike The Musical’ Producers Cancel November Premiere

Claudette Barius/Warner Bros. Pictures

Sometimes, the show cannot go on.

“Magic Mike The Musical” was scheduled to premiere this November at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, but the show’s producers have officially canceled the big event. They announced that they “don’t feel the musical is ready for production,” per the Boston Globe, leaving the fate of the musical unclear. Their spokesman Adrian Bryan-Brown told the Globe that “the next step” will be announced in the next week or so.

Among the musical’s producers are “Magic Mike” star Channing Tatum and the 2012 film’s director, Steven Soderbergh. The production has been described as a prequel that will follow Tatum’s character from the movie, Mike, as he gets into stripping. It was set to premiere in Boston before ultimately heading to Broadway. Tickets had already gone on sale, so the ticket holders will be issued full refunds.

The cancellation of the November premiere comes after another setback for “Magic Mike The Musical” in early May. The creative team exited due to “creative differences,” meaning a new book writer, composer, and lyricist needed to be found to fill the roles left vacant by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, Tom Kitt, and Brian Yorkey, respectively. It remains to be seen what the future holds for “Magic Mike The Musical.”

For now, the production appears to have fallen off the pony, but hopefully it’ll jump on it and ride it soon.

[via: Boston Globe]

May 23, 2019
‘Magic Mike’ Musical Hits a Serious Snag

Warner Bros.

You’ll have to wait a bit longer for the “Magic Mike” musical. At least in New York.

The creative team — book writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, composer Tom Kitt and lyricist Brian Yorkey — have exited the project over, (what else?) “creative differences.” A private workshop of the musical that was set for this week in New York has been postponed, according to Deadline.

A new creative team is expected to be announced shortly.

The musical based on the 2012 movie is still set to play Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre from Nov. 30-Jan. 5. When it was announced in January, the engagement was described as pre-Broadway, but no Broadway plans have been announced so far.

The musical’s producers include “Magic Mike” himself, Channing Tatum and the director of the first film, Steven Soderbergh.

The stage show is set before both films and “tells the story of college-student-turned-male-entertainer Mike Lane. Struggling to make ends meet, Mike takes a job dancing at an exclusive night club… and winds up loving every minute of it.”

[Via Deadline]

May 3, 2019
7 Matthew McConaughey Movie Speeches That Are Alright, Alright, Alright

WB/Focus

WB

Universal

Universal

Fox

WB

Focus

Paramount

September 12, 2018
14 Things You Never Knew About ‘Magic Mike’

A male stripper might be lucky to get a few $20 bills stuffed into his G-string. For Channing Tatum, however, strip-club work turned into a movie franchise that has earned $290 million since the release five years ago this week of “Magic Mike” on June 29, 2012.

Directed by Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh, “Magic Mike” proved as much a hit among critics as it did with party-night moviegoers. Still, as many times as you’ve re-watched (and hit freeze-frame on) the movie, there’s plenty you may not know about how the film came together.
1. Tatum has said he stripped for only eight months, when he was 18 and living in Tampa. “If you’re going to do something stupid, do it when you’re young,” he told Moviefone. Of stripping, he said, “It’s not something I’m proud of, but it’s not something I’m ashamed of.”

2. In developing his semi-autobiographical movie, Tatum initially wanted Nicolas Winding Refn, of “Drive” fame, to direct. The Danish director was interested but ultimately unavailable.
3. Since Tatum was already working with Soderbergh on “Haywire,” he ended up developing the movie with him instead.

4. Tatum farmed out the actual screenwriting to his producing partner, Reid Carolin. The strip-club world that Carolin’s script depicted was not nearly as bleak as the real thing. “I don’t think we even scratch the surface of really how dark that place can get, and how slippery of a slope it can actually be,” Tatum said at a “Magic Mike” press conference. “This was probably the most palatable version of this movie. Otherwise, you wouldn’t want to see it twice. You’d just be like, ‘Okay, I feel dirty now.’”
5. Matthew McConaughey was the first actor that Tatum and Soderbergh called. By the end of a ten-minute phone conversation, he had agreed to play impresario Dallas. “When he said ‘yes,’” Soderbergh told the New Yorker, “it made the rest of the casting much easier.”

6. Tatum and McConaughey’s first face-to-face meeting was a research trip to a strip club outside New Orleans. As McConaughey told the Daily Beast, “The one thing I got from that: this is not these guys’ real jobs. One guy I met that night was back from Afghanistan. Another guy was a lawyer and had three kids. They all looked like accountants when they were in street clothes.” He added, “The other thing I learned is the production value is horrible. I said to Steven, ‘Can I run this production?’ I took off on that. I became P.T. Barnum. I was channeling Jim Morrison and Malcolm McDowell from ‘A Clockwork Orange.’”
7. What you see in the film is all the actual actors flaunting what they’ve got, according to Tatum, who told Access Hollywood that there wasn’t one “stunt butt” or stunt dancer. McConaughey also assured the Daily Beast that none of the actors stuffed their thongs, “All my guys go out there with what God gave us,” he said.

8. Before playing stripper colleagues on screen, Joe Manganiello (Big D**k Richie) and Matt Bomer (Ken) were friends back in college at Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon.
9. Having spent so much time showing off his shirtless abs as werewolf Alcide on “True Blood,” Manganiello wasn’t sure whether he wanted to risk typecasting by doing more of the same in “Magic Mike.” He told the Los Angeles Times that he consulted Chris Rock, his co-star in “What To Expect When You’re Expecting,” telling the comedian, “‘I just think dudes are going to hate my guts if I don’t put a shirt on soon.’ And Chris was like, ‘Guys are going to hate your guts anyway. Brad Pitt spent 15 years with his shirt off. He’s doing fine.’”

10. Even Tatum was nervous at having to dance in a thong. He recalled to the Times, “I’m about to go on stage and dance for the first time, and I’m like, ‘Why did I want to do this again? This is completely not what I remembered.’ I was terrified.”
11. Initially, McConaughey didn’t have a strip number of his own. So the “Ladies of Tampa” routine was created for him, and he co-wrote the song himself. The female extras went wild and nearly tore the actor’s thong off, as you can see in the movie.

12. Days before the film’s release, two Florida strippers — who had danced alongside Tatum back in the day — came forth and accused the filmmakers of stealing their life stories and their dance moves. At the press conference, Tatum insisted that the film was entirely fictional. “There’s not one character that I took from my real life,” he said. “This is just a world that I went into and that I had a perspective on, and we created everything from a fictional place.” Saying he didn’t want to disparage his accusers, he nonetheless added, “Those guys have been trying to make money off of me since I’ve gotten into this business.”
13. Tatum and Soderbergh financed “Magic Mike” themselves, spending a mere $7 million and wrapping the shoot in just 25 days. It made back $114 million in North America and another $53 million abroad.

14. Bomer had a hard time letting go of his character. “I remember being at my sister’s wedding reception a month after we wrapped, and I’d had a few drinks and — all of a sudden — I was doing body rolls on the dance floor,” he said at the press conference. “I realized, ‘Matt, it’s time to let go. You can’t take this with you. It’s already been captured on film.’”

June 28, 2017
9 Times Channing Tatum Was So Hot That You Cried

Whether he’s dressed up in a tux, gyrating to Ginuwine, or being the funniest guy in the room, Channing Tatum is undeniably sexy.

Here are 9 times he was so hot that we pretty much couldn’t keep it together. Try not to drool, guys.

April 25, 2016
Joe Manganiello Calls ‘Pee-wee’s Big Holiday’ a ‘Once in a Lifetime Project’

Pee-wee Herman never did things small, so is it any wonder that his new best friend came in Size Joe Manganiello?

In “True Blood” and “Magic Mike” star plays a version of himself via the skewed funhouse-mirror world Pee-wee inhabits. After a chance encounter where he finds himself bonding with his new friend, Manganiello invites the otherwise sheltered Pee-Wee to his birthday party on the opposite coast, launching the epic cross-country journey that fills up the Netflix original film.

Manganiello joined Moviefone to reveal the secret behind his involvement with the movie, which wasn’t just a clever Hollywood cameo. Not only has the actor been a super-fan of Pee-wee since his youth, the character’s creator/alter ego Paul Reubens was also a personal friend — close enough to have attended the star’s recent wedding to Sofia Vergara.

Moviefone: You’re exactly the right age for Pee-wee Herman to be a pretty influential part of your youth. Tell me about your memories of Pee-wee when you were a kid.

Joe Manganiello: I mean, the first memory is probably seeing “Playhouse” and imitating the characters and knowing every single line of “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure” backwards and forwards — and “Big Top Pee-wee.” I mean, it just goes on and on. I loved Pee-wee. Then of course, that was my introduction to Tim Burton as well, who was probably my favorite director growing up.

So when this project came about, how did you get involved being the fan that you were?

Paul and I were friends. I walked up to Paul at an HBO Emmy party and introduced myself and told him what a huge fan I was. We had this great talk, and the Tim Burton art exhibit was up at the LACMA, the L.A. museum. So I called Paul and we went out to the art exhibit, and we hung out afterwards and just became friends.

Maybe two years later, Paul called me up and said, “Hey, I’ve been writing Pee-wee’s comeback for years, and I’m going to call you at some point. Maybe next year, maybe a couple years later, and we’re going to get this thing going, and I’m going to send you the script and I want you to do it.” He said, “Now forget that I called because there’s nothing going on right now.” About a year later, he called me up and said, “Hey, we’ve got it. We’re going to do it at Netflix with Judd Apatow. Will you do it?” I said, “Of course.”

Getting to know Paul outside of the Pee-wee context — that has to be a pretty cool and slightly surreal thing, to get to be buddies with an icon from your youth.

It is surreal. Paul was at my wedding, and he was like the biggest hit of my wedding. Because I’d introduce people and say, “Hey, such-and-such, this is Paul.” And they go, “Oh, hi Paul…” And as soon as the hands touched to shake hands, they’d realize Paul means Pee-wee Herman. I would just watch friend and family member after friend and family member lose their mind meeting Pee-wee Herman.

He’s one of the nicest, most genuine, most generous, kind-hearted people I’ve ever met. He’s just a really, really great, great person. I don’t know how I could ever possibly repay him for asking me to be a part of this once in a lifetime project. I got to come along for the ride and bring Pee-wee back to prominence. It’s nuts. It won’t compute.

What was the fun of making this for you as an actor?

Well, I think the real fun of it, or the interesting challenge of it for me, was that I had to enter into Pee-wee’s world. I wasn’t just a character drifting through. I wind up as Pee-wee’s best friend. So the example I give is when Pee-wee falls in the well, it doesn’t say “man trapped in well.” It says “boy trapped in well.” So if you reverse-engineer that, it means that our friendship is on a boy level.

So I think that that was the key really to the performance, or understanding my character. That when I get upset that he’s not at my party, it’s the way a ten-year-old would be upset. I think that’s kind of the fountainhead from which everything flows — that my character has to be seen through the filter of a ten-year-old.
What did you learn about the behind-the-scenes philosophy of Pee-wee that Paul has?

The thing that I love so much is the physicality of Pee-wee. Even just simple things like the way his hands move, the way he walks, the way he tries to sneak around, the way he runs, hilarious. For me, it’s so synonymous with that character. For me, getting to hang out and watch that every day and just watch the ease and simplicity that Paul flips in and out of character, it was really fun.

When you get to the set, you just don’t know. “Is he going to be Pee-wee all day? Do I call him Pee-wee? Do I call him Paul?” No, it’s just Paul. It’s amazing. It’s just this loose jacket he puts on and becomes Pee-wee in the snap of a finger.

Given how Pee-Wee translates for both adults and little kids, are you excited to encounter kids who don’t know your more adult-oriented work, but now know you from this project?

Yeah, because I do charity work at Pittsburg Children’s Hospital, and the kids have no idea who I am. Which is fine — that’s not why I’m doing it, you know what I mean? But it’d be really nice if the kids were excited that I was there. But they’re too young to have seen anything that I’ve done, really. So I’m excited to now be known as Pee-wee’s best friend.

Putting on the Pee-wee-style suit yourself had to be kind of a great day.

Yeah, that was a trip, man. I was freaking out. I couldn’t believe it.

Was there a whole process to working out a version of the suit that fit your frame?

It’s bespoke. It’s tailored. It’s made for me.

Was Pee-wee a part of your wife Sofia [Vergara’s] experience growing up or was that not available to her?

No, Pee-Wee Herman was popular in Colombia.

That’s cool — so she got to enjoy the ride with you.

Yeah. She knew what was going on!

Tell me where you are now in the things that you want to do in the business.

There had been a phase of my career that, through no fault of anyone, I wound up in a very odd place in my career. A place that was very unfamiliar to me and somewhat — I wound up on the end of this branch that I didn’t know existed, and I never thought that I would be “that guy.” Better or worse. Whatever. When Paul sent me this script, and I had said no to a lot of big studio stuff and took this movie with him on Netflix, I said, “This is my ‘Cry-Baby‘ [the 1990 John Waters film that helped launch Johnnny Depp’s film career], in many ways.”

I think that for the past few years of my career, people think I’m someone I’m not. And that’s fine, because that’s kind of the magic of this business, if you’re doing it right. But the fact is, this was like the big palate cleanser for me. I was going to go off and do a really weird, oddball movie with one of my biggest influences as a comic actor, and that’s probably something that people might find surprising.

Paul and Pee-wee Herman were humongous influences on me. So to be able to go off and do that with somebody who means so much to me, that just felt right to me. I guess it’s like there’s no substitute for genuine passion. I was just so damned passionate about helping him make his comeback.

I know you and I have talked before that it seems natural for you in this day and age in Hollywood to find a superhero project. Are you any closer to landing on the one that will be right for you?

I mean, it’s nothing that I would want to talk about at this present time. I mean, there’s one…I had a conversation about one recently that I actually brought up to a studio. We’re talking about that. But for me, once again, it’s like, I don’t want to do the average run-of-the-mill deal. I want to make something lasting. I want to make something epic. I want to make something inventive, preferably. I think I know the one that I want to do, and I told the studio I want to do that. I know they’re working on it. So we’ll see.

You’ve had so much fun creatively — and launched your own side projects — with the “Magic Mike” franchise. Do you want to stay involved on an even more creative level, depending on who Channing [Tatum] wants to turn to to keep his vision going?

Are you talking about in terms of another “Magic Mike” movie?

Would you want to do another one?

I don’t know, man! I mean, I don’t know. I’m going to be 40 this year, so if that’s going to happen, it needs to f–king hurry up!

I hear you. Save the workout for the superhero project if it comes to pass.

Yeah, we’ll see!

%Slideshow-371767%

March 25, 2016
17 Times Matt Bomer Gave Us Something That Rhymes With Bomer

%Slideshow-327719%
White Collar,” and “American Horror Story.” Whether he’s stripping down to his skivvies or killing it in a suave tux on the red carpet, he sure is one beautiful specimen. And we’ve got the pictures to prove it. Here are 17 times Matt Bomer was pretty much the hottest guy ever.

October 9, 2015