True Blood Star Joe Manganiello Strips for ‘Magic Mike’

First Official Still from Magic Mike (Warner Bros)

Fans of the incredibly hot Joe Manganiello, who plays sexy werewolf Alcide in the HBO series True Blood, have a lot to look forward. Manganiello will be featured in the highly-anticipated dramedy Magic Mike,  Steven Soderbergh’s movie about male strippers set for release in June 2012. Warner Brothers released on Dec 28 the first image from the film, and boy what an image it is. (Dec 28 was incidentally also Manganiello’s birthday – he turned 35.)

Magic Mike features a cast of astoundingly good looking men, including Matthew McConaughey, Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, and of course, Manganiello. The film’s about how veteran stripper Mike Martingano (the “Magic Mike” of the title, played by Tatum) shows newbie (Pettyfer) the ropes in the course of their work at Xquisite, a club owned by retired stripper, Dallas (McConaughey). Apart from starring as the titular Magic Mike, Tatum has a bit more input into this film than the other cast members. Part of the screenplay is based on his own experience as a 19-year-old stripper in Tampa, Florida, before his acting career took off.

Since this is a movie about male strippers, the audience will be expecting a lot of well-oiled chests and ripped abs. Well, I think the audience won’t be disappointed! Manganiello revealed that in Magic Mike, everyone is “pretty damn naked, and probably more naked than in True Blood even, if you can believe it.” Oh, Joe, I can’t believe it, but come June 2012, I’m going to find out for myself, don’t you worry!

Maganiello’s character in the film has a delightfully lewd name – he’s called Big Dick Richie. Manganiello has apparently denied that he’ll be doing the Full Monty in the film so it looks like we won’t be able to verify if the character’s name is well-deserved. Pity.

Magic Mike will be out in theatres on June 29, 2012.