“Magic Mike” men Channing Tatum and Joe Manganiello (mostly) take it all off

Our intrepid — and damn lucky — contributor Chris Azzopardi got down and dirty with two of the hot men in Magic Mike, the mega-gay-appealing male stripper movie coming out this Friday: Channing Tatum and Joe Mangianello. Here’s the interview:

STRIPPED DOWN

“Wearing a thong is a pain in the ass,” says Joe Manganiello with complete disregard to the glaring innuendo. Beat. “Oh, god. I can’t believe I just said that.”

Who can blame him? Avoiding double entendres about Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh’s unexpected (but completely acceptable) foray into the male-stripper world is hard (see?).

Magic Mike stars Manganiello of True Blood, homo heartthrob Matt Bomer, Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum, the latter the movie’s muse, after it was revealed that the gay-loved dreamboat wasn’t just busting a move in 2006’s breakout role Step Up — before acting, he was pocketing dollar bills for his dance moves, too. One of Hollywood’s hottest actors, known for melting hearts in Dear John and The Vow, was suddenly faced with a pole-dancing past. His stripper alias? Chan Crawford.

“That’s so lame,” Tatum says in our recent interview. “I didn’t choose it. But Crawford? What am I: Cindy Crawford’s brother?”

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

News about the Liberace biopic… or is it?

I received a press release today that said “Steven Soderbergh … and Jerry Weintraub … will bring the film Behind the Candelabra, starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon… to HBO Films, it was announced today.” The thing is, I’m not quite sure how this is news.

It’s been known for quite a while that Douglas and Damon were starring and Soderbergh directing; I reported about it last May here, and it was already well known by that time. So what exactly is the news? Is it that Jerry Weintraub is producing? That it will appear on HBO? I’m not sure.

What I am sure is that production doesn’t even begin until next summer, for a 2013 release. So whatever this “news” is, well, I’m passing it along…

—  Arnold Wayne Jones

WATCH: Michael Douglas on kissing Matt Damon

Michael Douglas is gong from playing oversexed straight men in movies like Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct to, for his next role, an oversexed gay man playing the title role in Steven Soderbergh’s film, Liberace. Douglas stars opposite Matt Damon as Liberace’s lover, Scott Thorson.

Douglas appeared this week on The View and talked about kissing a man.

The film is due in 2013.

—  Arnold Wayne Jones