Salma Hayek and Channing Tatum in a scene from “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.”
Miami. Salma Hayek and Channing Tatum joined forces in “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” to tell a story that, according to what they said in an interview with EFE, would fuse exotic dance, romance, female empowerment and the transformation of dreams.
Source: EFE / Alicia Civita
“As soon as I read the character of Maxandra Mendoza, I fell in love with the idea of playing a woman who realizes that her whole life was controlled by others and that she herself did not know what her dreams were”explained Hayek when talking about his role in the third installment of the story of the exotic dancer Michael “Magic Mike” Lane.
To this was added that the film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and “Of course, being able to dance with this man”he added between laughs while pointing to Tatum, sitting next to him, in the restaurant built especially to accompany the theater in the village of Key Biscayne, one of the towns that make up Greater Miami, where the show is presented on tour. “Magic Mike Live”inspired by the movies.
“It was important to me to close Mike’s story by showing the power that a single person who believes in you can have,” said Tatum, whose life story inspired the first film of “Magic Mike”where he shared credits with Matthew McConaughey in 2012.
A FILM WITHOUT GENDER
“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” it begins at a party in Miami Beach where Mike is a bartender. Max (Hayek) finds out that he was an exotic dancer and, upon requesting a dance, begins the most sensual scene of the three films and one of the most passionate that the Mexican star has done.
“They were strong sequences for which we had to intensify the training we do every day, but it wasn’t too much for me. Channing had to do a lot more”he stressed.
That in terms of physical effort, but the intensity and sexuality of the sequence required work between them “to build trust”which, according to both agreed, was the most important element for a series of stunts that implied a sexual session, without her losing a single piece of clothing.
Although that was the beginning of the relationship between them, eventually a complicity is generated that develops the story of both characters and makes them shine under the direction of Soderbergh, famous for the saga of “Ocean’s Eleven” and who had already worked with Hayek on traffic (2000) and with Tatum in the previous “Magic Mike” tapes.
Max and Mike’s story spans sexual thriller, romantic comedy, and dance-based musicals, with a strong hint of female empowerment.
For Tatum, “the most difficult thing was not to unify all these aspects, because I think that films are no longer separated by genre.”
“In a single story there can be many elements, like the ones we include here”abounded.
The film, which opens worldwide in the second week of February, also incorporated different multicultural elements, starting with the fact that Hayek plays a Latina, Tatum an American, and most of the story takes place in London, where he even appears the classic butler with a caustic character.
The soundtrack, nourished by Anglo pop from the last three decades, includes the merengue “Gently” from Puerto Rican Elvis Crespowho was also one of the special guests on the red carpet at the film’s world premiere last week in Miami.
“Obviously we had to add Latino elements”highlighted Hayek, whose character speaks several times in Spanish and rescues his cultural heritage, without identifying his country of origin.
A STORY WITHIN A STORY
In addition to the romance and professional self-realization of the protagonists, “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” is the fictionalized story of how the musical show was born that today has permanent performances in London and Las Vegas, as well as a traveling show, which currently He is completing a six-month residency in Miami.
Featured in the film are the original dancers from the first London show, who also traveled to the premiere, while those from the Miami show danced during the red carpet of the premiere and showed a small part of the show during a private party for which they closed the theater from “Magic Mike Live”.
For Channing Tatum, who grew up in Tampa and was an exotic dancer before beginning a career in Hollywood, “Being in Florida with the latest ‘Magic Mike’ movie and teaching the show is like coming full circle.”
The actor and producer revealed that he is currently writing a romantic novel and is preparing the premiere of two films in which he participated this year.
The first is “Spaceman”, in which he served as a producer. The other is “Pussy Island”in which he shares leading credits with Geena Davis, Christian Slater and Adria Arjonaunder the direction of his current partner Zoe Kravitz.
For her part, Hayek said she was very excited about the upcoming premiere of “Without Blood”directed and written by Angelina Jolie. “They will be surprised”promised the Mexican star when talking about the result of the tape.
