Matthew McConaughey says he’s interested in returning for the third Magic Mike movie

Matthew McConaughey revealed recently that he’s game for returning to the Magic Mike franchise ahead of the series’ upcoming third entry.

The 52-year-old Oscar winner admitted during a chat with Variety that he hadn’t heard anything about the film, which will be titled Magic Mike’s Last Dance.

He played a major supporting role in the 2012 original film as Dallas, a stripper-turned-club owner, though he opted not to reprise his role in the 2015 sequel Magic Mike XXL. 

McConaughey seems to be feeling more positive about the franchise ahead of it’s third entry, which will see acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh returning to helm it after he vacated the director’s chair on XXL.

‘Channing Tatum, call me, bro! I haven’t heard from ya!’ the actor enthused after he was asked if he would be part of part three.

‘I don’t know,’ he added when asked about his participation. ‘I’d have to read [the script] first. It was a helluva lot of fun doing the first one.’

The star of both previous entries, Channing Tatum, announced in November that he would be returning for Magic Mike’s Last Dance, which is set to beginning filming in March in London and Italy.

He’s interested: ‘Channing Tatum, call me, bro! I haven’t heard from ya!’ the actor enthused after he was asked if he would be part of Magic Mike’s Last Dance. He previously chose to skip the second film; still from Magic Mike (2012)

Loved it: ‘I don’t know,’ he added when asked about his participation. ‘I’d have to read [the script] first. It was a helluva lot of fun doing the first one’; seen in December on The Tonight Show

Tatum, whose early experiences as a stripper when he was only 18 inspired the first film, told People this week that he wants his new film to be the ‘Super Bowl of stripping.’

‘I want dancing like we’ve never been able to do in the other two movies, because we had to be honest to what the reality of that world is, which isn’t great dancing.’

He added that the final dance from XXL, which he performed with Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, would be an example of the kind of ambitious dancing he was hoping to catch on camera, even though it doesn’t have much in common with real-life male stripping.

‘There was never anything in the real world that I actually stripped in that was even nearly as good as that [last dance],’ he explained. ‘We’re already breaking the rules of that, the reality of that world. I want to have professional dancers [from all over], Russian ballet dancers, I want to go for it and create a completely new genre of this form.’

Upping his game: Star Channing Tatum (L) told People this week that he wants Magic Mike’s Last Dance to feature more ambitious dancing than the first two films; still from Magic Mike

McConaughey continued his conversation with Variety to talk about a recent Super Bowl ad he co-created and filmed for Salesforce.

He admitted he wanted to ‘misdirect’ the audience by making them initially think it was a sequel to his blockbuster science fiction epic Interstellar. 

The clip opens with the Dallas Buyers Club star floating in space in a suit similar to the one he wore in the critically acclaimed Christopher Nolan film, which grossed more than $700 million at the worldwide box office.

Gotcha! McConaughey told Variety that it isn’t accidental that his latest Super Bowl ad might fool fans into expecting a sequel to Interstellar

‘I wanted this misdirect at the beginning,’ McConaughey said of the ad, which premiered during the Olympics and will air during the Super Bowl.

‘I wanted it to open and look very serious and in space because we’re about to pull the rug out from under you,’ he admitted. ‘Some people are going to think this is going to be the trailer for Interstellar 2.’

After some self-serious narration from him about ‘the new frontier,’ the actor shrugs and the camera pulls back to reveal he’s standing in a hot air balloon that’s improbably soaring through space.

Suddenly, the action cuts to a San Francisco skyline, where his balloon more comfortably floats over the skyscrapers.

Sleight of hand: ‘I wanted this misdirect at the beginning,’ McConaughey said of the ad, which premiered during the Olympics and will air during the Super Bowl; still from Interstellar

Spacey: ‘I wanted it to open and look very serious and in space because we’re about to pull the rug out from under you,’ he admitted. ‘Some people are going to think this is going to be the trailer for Interstellar 2’

Change of scenery: He’s revealed to be on a hot air balloon in space, but then the balloon is transported to the San Francisco skyline

‘It’s not time to escape. It’s time to engage,’ he says via narration. ‘It’s time to plant more trees. It’s time to build more trust. It’s time to make more space for all of us. So while the others look to the metaverse and Mars, let’s stay here and restore ours,’ he says as farmers are seen hard at work in a field.

‘Yeah, it’s time to blaze our trail. ‘Cause the new frontier? It ain’t rocket science. It’s right here.’

McConaughey concludes his ad by getting out of his balloon and letting go of the rope tethering it to Earth. 

Making a change: ‘It’s not time to escape. It’s time to engage,’ he says via narration. ‘It’s time to plant more trees,’ he adds as he soars over farmers

Focusing on home: ‘Yeah, it’s time to blaze our trail. ‘Cause the new frontier? It ain’t rocket science. It’s right here,’ he says as he lets his balloon sail away without him

The actor said he hoped his advertisement would encourage some of his fans to better their world.

‘I hope they go, “Look, what McConaughey and Salesforce is saying, is there is a problem in society today. Our relationship with each other, our relationship with the environment is fragile, man. We got a lack of trust, we got a lack of fairness. We got a lack of sustainable innovations. We have a lack of values.”

‘And you know what, a lot of us are looking to escape and get the hell out of here or maybe look the other way,’ he continued. ‘You know what? They’re right! But we can look around at our earthly challenges and look those in the eye and say, “Let’s handle this and restore what we got going here. We’re not ready to quit.” Hopefully businesses will see this and are urged and nudged to make a commitment to making life here on Earth more fair, equal and sustainable.’

Despite his digs at Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse and Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk’s interest in space exploration, McConaughey made it clear that he hadn’t heard from any of those billionaires.

He clarified that the campaign wasn’t ‘anti-technology’ or ‘anti-pioneering space.’ 

Exploration: He clarified that the campaign wasn’t ‘anti-technology’ or ‘anti-pioneering space’

Choosy: The actor also claimed that he was picky about which brands and companies he was willing to endorse, as he wanted them to align with his values

The actor also claimed that he was picky about which brands and companies he was willing to endorse, as he wanted them to align with his values.

‘I’m looking for restorative companies and products that can help rebuild America and mankind,’ he said, noting that he had gotten more selective in recent years. ‘Especially in the last eight years, I would say I turned away quite a few that maybe 15 years ago I would have done.’

After the interviewer noted that his statements about values sounded as if they could have been spoken by a politician, McConaughey said his thoughts went ‘beyond politics.’

‘These traits and their values can be acquired, and I think they should be by politicians, but values go beyond politics,’ he said. ‘This is not about the left or the right. This is more important than that. These values are an aspiration that we as humans got a capacity to do and we as America has a capacity to achieve.’