Joe Manganiello's male stripper documentary inspired by Magic Mike
Actor Joe Manganiello is set to unveil his directorial debut with a documentary about male strippers, inspired by his turn in Magic Mike.
The True Blood star came close to baring it all in the hit 2012 film as an exotic dancer, and now he is turning the camera on real-life strippers in a film called Le Bare.
While he was doing research for his role in Magic Mike, he turned
to an old pal who used to work at one of the most popular male
strip clubs, Le Bare Dallas, in Texas.
Manganiello recalls, "One of my old friends was a male stripper
there in the '90s, and was the originator of the fireman routine
there, that he helped me with for Magic Mike.
"I knew he was a male stripper before the movie, but I never wanted
to ask, like I just didn't want to know. I never prodded him for
questioning. I just kinda let that one slide and wanted to forget
that my buddy was a male stripper."
He continues, "But when I got the role and took him out to lunch,
the stories he told me were so outrageous and hilarious. Then most
of the people (audience) that came out of Magic Mike said, 'We
loved it, but we wanted to see more of the guys!' So I thought,
'Okay, I'm gonna go film the real guys.'"
Manganiello, who also produced the film along with his brother
Nick, brought Le Bare to the Slamdance Festival in Park City, Utah
earlier this year (14), where studio bosses at Main Street Films
bought the distribution rights.
Le Bare is set to hit theatres on 27 June (14).