Matthew McConaughey is one of the prominent actors in the Hollywood industry, who has a long list of successful movies in his name. The actor became the industry’s s*x symbol in 2000 with his films like The Wedding Planner, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Failure to Launch, Fool’s Gold, and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. The actor was widely appreciated for his work in the film Magic Mike. The star used his real-life experience to make his role better in the film.
McConaughey shared in an interview about visiting a real strip club to understand his role better and did the introduction of 22 stripers on the stage.
Matthew McConaughey was disappointed by a sub-standard presentation at a strip club
Matthew McConaughey played the role of Dallas in the film Magic Mike, which was based on strip club dancers. The actor decided to visit an actual strip club to understand his character. The actor went there with his co-star Channing Tatum.
McConaughey recalled in an interview with the LA Times,
“So we get there early, we’re sitting there talking to a couple of guys. They’re decent enough guys — one’s a lawyer, the other one’s back from the armed services, he’s got three kids at home…. Anyway, women start coming in, and most of them are older women, We sneak into the back, and all of a sudden boom! These guys are coming out on stage, they’re dancing!”
Matthew McConaughey noticed that the theatrics of the strip club were not of good quality,
“The production in there – it was just poor production. I mean, the sound cues, the record scratch, the lighting, there was nothing running. None of the women seemed to care.”
At that moment, the actor got the idea that his character, who ran the strip club in the film, would have an excellent production. Hence he decided to give it a try by introducing the dancers at the club. He recalled,
“So I was like, ‘Steven, can I get up there [and do the introductions for each dancer]? And he’s like. ‘Yeah.’ And I think after the 20thtime, he looked over at me and was like: ‘Do you have an entrance for this one too?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah!’ After about 22, he looked at me and said, ‘You don’t have to do this, it’s just a rehearsal.’”
Magic Mike was a comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh. The star cast included Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey.
Matthew McConaughey was initially terrified of stripping for Magic Mike
McConaughey revealed in an interview with Advocate that he was initially scared of stripping on the stage. However, he did not want to miss out on the chance to dance on stage as a stripper.
The actor shared,
“It wasn’t in the script, but Soderbergh said in the beginning that if it felt right, I could strip at the end of the movie. I said, ‘I gotta dance, man.’ I would regret it for the rest of my life if I was in a male stripper movie and didn’t get up there and strip myself.”
Matthew McConaughey added,
“At first it was scary as hell, but then it became like a drug, and I couldn’t wait to do it again. Look, I love to dance, but I’ve never been a stripper. Channing’s one of the best hip-hop street dancers I’ve ever seen, and I didn’t want to challenge his style, so I worked on my own strengths. I also knew that my dance had to be the dirtiest. It had to be wonderfully filthy.”
Magic Mike was a blockbuster film that grossed $167 million worldwide on a budget of $7 million.
