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Channing Tatum: Magic Mike XXL Is The End Of The Road For The Kings of Tampa

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Channing Tatum says there’ll be no ‘Magic Mike 3′, as ‘Magic Mike XXL’ will be the “last ride” for the Kings of Tampa all-male stripping troupe.

In 2012, Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Magic Mike’ defied expectations to be one of the biggest sleeper hits of the year, with most assuming the ‘Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey as strippers’ concept would be played for cheesy laughs. However, it turned out to be an unexpectedly heartfelt drama and audiences threw money at it with wanton abandon.

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And now, in 2015, we’re getting a sequel - ‘Magic Mike XXL’ (in cinemas 3 July) - which follows the continuing adventures of Mike and the gang as they hit the road to the Myrtle Beach Stripping Convention. Soderbergh’s longtime DOP Gregory Jacobs directs this time, swapping roles with the ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ director who’s on cinematography duties for the sequel. 

There’s no McConaughey this time around either, but Channing Tatum, the brilliantly-titled sequel’s writer and star, says ‘XXL’ will deliver more of what people expected from the first film: namely, lots of oiled-up, half-naked dudes having a good time.

“It’s definitely lighter,” Tatum told Yahoo Movies on the film’s set in 2014, “It’s definitely more fun. It might be a little bit more up the alley of some things that people were expecting out of the first one. I would say it’s less dark for sure.”

Here’s 16 more things we learned about ‘Magic Mike XXL’ from speaking to the cast on the film’s set last year…

1: The sequel is going to be funnier

Joe Manganiello (BDR): This is a comedy. This is a comedy in the vein of ‘Animal House’ for sure, very much so.

Adam Rodriguez (Tito): It feels like that’s what we’re delivering here is just more of what you didn’t get enough of the first time around and it’s bigger and better and it’s double XL. It really is.

2: It’s also going to be saucier

Joe Manganiello (BDR): This movie is going to blow people’s minds. There hasn’t been a studio film this racy, this out there, this kind of progressive probably since the 70s. And especially in today’s climate, I think movies play it very safe, and this is going to be something that’s out there.

3: But it’s also going to be tasteful

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Channing Tatum (Magic Mike): We’re not in it for the shock value; we’re in it to be entertaining. You want to go up to the edge, put your toe over, and give people something they didn’t know they wanted… and then pull it back.

Then go, ‘okay, we’re good’. We don’t want to be disrespectful. We don’t want people to feel gross or dirty so we try to stay pretty mindful of that type of thing.

4: It’s an ensemble piece

Channing Tatum (Magic Mike): My biggest regret in the first film was that we didn’t get to live with the guys more. They were a discovery for me.

It’s a buddy movie in the world of men trying to figure out why, who they are, why they want to keep exploring themselves, and that by in turn makes them more interested in what, and why, women want what they want, instead of men telling women what they should think is sexy.

Joe Manganiello (BDR): All of us are in every scene of the entire movie; we’re all together. I think it’s going to catch a lot of people by surprise, because what I think a lot of people wanted the first movie to be - and were hoping the first movie was going to be - that’s what the second movie is.

5: There probably won’t be a third film

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Channing Tatum (Magic Mike): Set ups they always suck. I hate doing them in movies. It’s like “Alright, in this one scene, tell where everybody has been, what they’re doing and now where they’re going to go.”

So, I don’t want to give away too much, but a lot has happened in three years. That’s all I can really say. But this will be our last ride of sorts.

Matt Bomer (Ken): This movie to me is sort of like a stripper ‘Odyssey’ where it’s like a mix of ‘The Last Detail’ and ‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert’. It’s this group of these guys going out for one last ride to try to cash in and have one last moment of glory before they have to face a really scary reality, which is they’re kind of getting to the end of their time in their current profession.

6: Jada Pinkett Smith’s character Rome helps Mike and the guys

Jada Pinkett-Smith (Rome): She’s a friend of Mike’s from the past that she has a unique club of her own and he felt as though as if he would need her skills to help him put together a great show.

What this character is about is the idea that, in her club, she creates a freedom space for women to explore their sexuality and sensuality that they may not feel the world allows them to. And that’s kind of her thing. It’s not about sex so much as it is about exploration and adventure through passion and the world of physical sexuality.

7: That’s how Donald Glover, Twitch, and Michael Strahan’s characters fit in

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Stephen Boss/Twitch (Leak): [My character] was basically established in Jada’s club, Dominance. So in that club we do things a little differently than Mike’s crew used to do. Rather than just putting on stage shows, we play to the individual needs of our customers.

So, each room has a different feel for us. So my room is where you would come if you wanted a lap dance or you would go to Donald [Glover’s] room if you wanted to be serenaded or you would go to Michael Strahan’s room if you wanted to be massaged or something like that. So with that, I’m the only dancer in this group.

8: Jada Pinkett Smith’s role was originally written for Jamie Foxx

Channing Tatum (Magic Mike): I always did see this as a male part and specifically Jamie Foxx. And then I think I got drunk on that, and then it just didn’t work out as far as that… this industry does that.

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Jada Pinkett Smith (Rome): I think also it was really smart for Greg, Steven and Channing to think about making the role female, because it changed the dynamic of the show.

9: The title came from the internet

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Channing Tatum (Magic Mike): It leaked that [‘Magic Mike XXL’] was the name [of the sequel] and then the internet ran with it. Then, we came up with about 15 other dumb options that are about the same, pretty much all in the same joke that it’s bigger.

Then we came up with some stupid ones like ‘Magic Mike: Road to Myrtle Beach’ and we were like: “That’s stupid. We’re not doing that.” You know we liked ‘Magic Mike XXL’. It just sort of looks very visual instead of having 2 on it that it’s just different.

10: The guys find the thongs REALLY uncomfortable

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Adam Rodriguez (Tito): God bless you girls. I know we’re packaged differently, but I don’t know why you would ever want to wear one of these things. It’s awful, it really is. It’s so uncomfortable.

11: The actors don’t want their grandparents to see the film

Stephen Boss/Twitch (Leak): My grandparents are not going to see this movie, and my in laws will not be seeing this movie. Those are the ones that I really feel like I’m really going to have to sit down and have a serious conversation. Like, listen I appreciate the support but don’t go see the movie. I don’t need Christmas dinner conversations about G-strings and thongs.

12: Jada wouldn’t let daughter Willow visit the set

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Jada Pinkett Smith (Rome): Willow is like: “Do I get to come down there and see Channing?” and it’s like, “Yeah of course… if he’s not stripping.” But you can meet him if he’s got his clothes on.

13: The cast see Magic Mike XXL as part of a new wave of movies for women

Jada Pinkett Smith (Rome): I think women are looking for satisfaction and emotional satisfaction, physical satisfaction, happiness, and I think women are tired of playing the game.

And I think a lot of women are looking for a way to step out of the box in order to find the thing that works for them, but it’s going to take us giving ourselves the freedom to explore, the freedom to take criticism, the freedom to take a little pain in order to find the thing that we’re looking for.

14: The guys love hanging out on set even when they’re not working

Joe Manganiello (BDR): You just don’t want to miss anything. There’s a party going on and you don’t want to be that one that’s not at the party when something goes down, so when we’re all there, watching, laughing, clapping, this is entertaining.

Stephen Boss/Twitch (Leak): Even on a day off I want to be here absorbing everything, seeing what everyone is doing, like watching Steven and Greg work, watching the other actors work which has already been kind of mind opening for me anyway.

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Channing Tatum (Magic Mike): No one just goes “Alright, I’m just gonna say some words and go home and do my job”. Everyone is here. I don’t have to be here and I’m here. Just about everyone on this movie that if they don’t have to work, they’re around.

15: Matt Bomer sings his own stripping song – ‘How Does It Feel’ by D’Angelo

Matt Bomer (Ken): I think it was really Channing’s idea actually, because he had heard from somebody [that I can sing] and then he sent me a list of songs and he asked me which songs I thought might be sexy to strip to. But the one I got was the one I never thought we would get. So I went and recorded it and he was like “Yeah, lets do it”.

16: It’s not just for the ladies

Matt Bomer (Ken): I think it definitely appeals to everyone. Obviously you would think this is for the girls, but I think whoever gets dragged with their girlfriend or whatever, they’re going to realize it’s really a guy’s movie as well because it’s a bunch of dudes having male specific problems who also happen to strip as a profession.

‘Magic Mike XXL’ is coming to cinemas on 3 July.

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Image credits: Warner Bros.