Though he insists he’s retiring after his next couple of movies (including Liberace and, likely, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) it would seem that Steven Soderbergh is squeezing in one extra pic before he puts down the megaphone and picks up a paintbrush, reuniting with Channing Tatum for Magic Mike.
It’s not a biopic of a stage magician, though it probably will involve a few stages – the actor conceived the idea based on his real-life past as a stripper back when the 19-year-old Tatum would tear his clothes off for cash in Tampa.
But he won’t be looking to play himself. Instead, Tatum’s plan is to be the titular character, an experienced former stripper who teaches a young protégé the noble art of the Chippendale-style tease.
“When Channing talked to me about this, I thought it was one of the best ideas I’d ever heard for a movie. I said I wanted in immediately. It’s sexy, funny and shocking. We’re using Saturday Night Fever as our model, so hopefully we’re on the right track," Soderbergh said in a statement picked up by The Hollywood Reporter.
And according to Tatum: "This was a wild and pivotal time in my life and I couldn't be more thrilled to go down the rabbit hole with Steven.”
The pair has just worked together on action thriller Haywire, which sees MMA fighter Gina Carano as Black Ops soldier Mallory Kane out for revenge when she’s betrayed during a mission. That one should be out later this year. Magic Mike, however, will be more along the lines of Soderbergh’s smaller indie dramas, and there’s no strict schedule for filming just yet.