Alex Pettyfer, the 21-year-old hunky star of I Am Number Four and Beastly, will be playing a male stripper in Magic Mike. But the blond actor won't be playing just any male stripper. The movie's story is based on Channing Tatum's brief career as a male stripper when he was 18.
That's right, before Tatum went on to star in Step Up and Dear John, the 31-year-old shook his moneymaker as part of a male dance revue in Florida. Back then, his stage name was "Chan Crawford," and the group was known as -- wait for it -- Male Encounter.
Since Tatum is too old to play his 18-year-old self in the movie, Pettyfer was selected. Thankfully, that doesn't mean Tatum, who's also producing the movie, won't be in Magic Mike. Tatum will play a mentor to his younger self. We're going to hope that means there will be dance scenes starring these two.
Back in 2010, Tatum spoke about his stripper history. "Look, I'm not proud of it," he confessed. "But I'm not ashamed of it."
Tatum has been married to his Step Up costar, Jenna Dewan, since 2009. The two met while making the movie and dated for three years before tying the knot in Maui.
The movie will be directed by Steven Soderbergh, director of the Oceans movie franchise, Erin Brockovich and Traffic.
Would you see a movie about male strippers?