Matthew McConaughey Makes His 'Magic Mike' Return Hopes Very Clear to Channing Tatum
Matthew McConaughey is ready to dance for a lot of lawbreakers once again. With the news that Channing Tatum and director Steven Soderbergh were teaming up to finish up the Magic Mike trilogy with Magic Mike's Last Dance, McConaughey revealed in an interview with Variety that he's down to return. "Channing Tatum, call me, bro!" McConaughey said. "I haven't heard from ya!"
"I don't know," McConaughey continued. "I'd have to read [the script] first. It was a helluva lot of fun doing the first one." The Oscar-winning star played Dallas, a mentor for Tatum's Mike Lane, in the first Magic Mike but missed the sequel, Magic Mike XXL.
Tatum mentioned the possibility of McConaughey returning after the film was announced. "I didn't know if Matthew would want to do it, he loves what he did in the first movie so much. He was like, 'I don't want to touch it,'" Tatum told Entertainment Tonight. "I mean, I'm not saying anything about mine or anyone else's performances. He was the star, he was the movie, it was special. I can't tell you how many times I had to watch the movie because of different edits Steven [Soderbergh] would do, and I would just fast forward to when he blew the fire, and I'm like, 'Yeah, he's a swan song.'"
Back in November 2021, Tatum confirmed that Magic Mike has one more lap dance in him. He tweeted a photo of the Magic Mike's Last Dance script title page, confirming Reid Carolin is writing and Steven Soderbergh will direct. Carolin and Soderbergh both worked on the original Magic Mike, while Gregory Jacobs replaced Soderbergh in the director's chair for XXL.
After Tatum tweeted the script page, Warner Bos. formally announced the project. Jacobs, Carolin, Nick Wechsler, and Peter Kiernan will produce the movie, which will be released exclusively on HBO Max. "Is there anybody on screen more charismatic and appealing than Magic Mike?" Toby Emmerich, Chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said in a statement in November. "We're thrilled to be back in business with Channing, Steven, and their creative team to bring back Magic Mike's wonderful combination of dance, drama, romance, and humor."
Rehearsals for the new movie are already underway in California, Tatum told ET. "We always laugh because if anybody ever came by and looked in the garage to see what we're doing, I can't even describe to you like what we were doing," he said, before teasing location shooting in London and Italy. That hints at new backdrops for the franchise, which has not left the U.S. before.
"You're getting 100 on this one," Tatum told ET when asked what fans could expect. "Put it to you this way, I'm putting everything and the kitchen sink on it because, in the first two movies, we really had to be honest about the reality of dancing in that world. Yet it's not the best dancing in the world but it's fun."