Warner Bros.(NEW YORK) — The boys are back and on full display. Channing Tatum, Joe Manganiello, Matt Bomer, Adam Rodriguez and Kevin Nash are returning to the big screen in Magic Mike XXL, the hotly anticipated sequel to the original surprise hit from 2012.
To prep for their big return, the actors stuck to a very strict diet and workout regimen.
“I’ve walked out in front of 85,000 people to wrestle,” Nash told ABC’s Nightline. “And to walk out in front of 900 women knowing I’m going to end up in a thong is way more challenging.”
For his part, Bomer said he was glad the cast had each other to lean on, because having to stick to the diet alone was “not fun at all.”
“When we hadn’t had any carbohydrates in a couple of months, and we were starting to fall out in a take we could at least find solace in each other,” Bomer added.
“You train like a professional athlete. You have to eat like one,” Manganiello said. “I ran around naked in the woods for five years on True Blood, so at this point it’s just another day of work.”
But the men didn’t just have to worry about diet and bodybuilding. They also had the requisite man-scaping. And when it came to waxing, they suffered for their art.
“It is not fun. …This part’s been with me since I was born,” Tatum said while pointing to a section on his shin. “And I ripped it out of its home. And it is not happy.”
Despite the pain and hard work they endured to get in shape for the sequel, their camaraderie, they say, is why they all came back. “It was the heart and soul of the reason we wanted to make the second one, truly,” Tatum declared.
Magic Mike XXL, also starring Michael Strahan and Jada Pinkett Smith, debuts July 1.
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