ABC/Fred Lee(NEW YORK) — Channing Tatum just knew he had to make another Magic Mike. Part of it was because the film, loosely based on his life, blew up the box office in 2012. But there was another reason he wanted to dive back in — the guys.
“That was one of the biggest reasons that I wanted to make the second one because we didn’t get to get a really good look at those characters and get to know them,” Tatum said on Tuesday’s Good Morning America.
In Magic Mike XXL, Tatum dances beside Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Adam Rodriguez and Kevin Nash. Tatum said the film, which follows the guys as they head to a stripper convention, allows moviegoers “just to go hang out with them again and open them up.”
Fans will see a different side of Bomer in the sequel, when he sings a cover of Bryan Adams’ “Heaven.” On Tuesday’s Live with Kelly and Michael, Bomer explained how he ended up singing in the film.
“The first movie we made had a very low budget so we would have to sometimes entertain extras between takes. And Joe Manganiello, who I went to college with, was like, ‘Matt, you should sing something.’ And Channing was like, ‘Yeah! Sing!’ And I was like, ‘What should I sing?’ He was like, ‘Jodeci!’ I don’t know why it was Jodeci so I did and Channing remembered that,” he explained. “And then another friend of ours encouraged [me] and [Channing] was like, ‘You gotta do it in this movie.'”
Another star in the film is Live with Kelly and Michael co-host, Michael Strahan. Tatum explained how he convinced the daytime talk show host to strip down.
“I said it sort of as a joke on…Kelly and Michael,” he explained. “And he was just like, ‘I will do that!’ And then I didn’t really think he was serious then next thing you know, he was down.”
So how does Tatum’s wife, Jenna Dewan-Tatum, feel about her husband taking it off onscreen? Tatum said she doesn’t care. In fact, she helped him choreograph some of his dance routines while he filmed in Vancouver.
“Basically Jenna was down there the whole time kinda just being like, ‘Oh, that looks good. That doesn’t look good,'” he added. “It’s kinda like having a built in focus group right in your house, so it’s nice.”
Magic Mike XXL slides into theaters July 1.
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