"I WAS running around with no shirt long before anyone was taking pictures of me. And I'll keep running around with no shirt on long after."
That's Matthew McConaughey, one of the four hot leading men who'll take it all (mostly) off in this summer's male-stripper movie--Steven Soderbergh's "Magic Mike."
The movie is based loosely on the early experiences of actor Channing Tatum, who bumps and grinds in "Magic Mike" along with Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello. (The latter two guys are best known from their from their TV shows -- Bomer's "Blue Collar" and Joe's "True Blood.") Everybody involved with "Magic Mike" is at pains to insist it is not a male version of "Showgirls." It's intentionally funny.
Oh, come on. You're not going to tell me anyone was supposed to take "Showgirls" seriously. That was meant to be the big camp-fest it was. Gina Gershon's character, Crystal, was practically a drag-queen. The only person who wasn't in on the joke was the star, Elizabeth Berkley. And she ended up suffering the most when the film failed. Movies are a director's medium, they control the how it all turns-out. Miss Berkley learned that the hard way.
Entertainment Weekly pointed out to Channing Tatum that Hollywood "seemed okay" with his once having been a stripper. Would the reaction be the same if he were a
woman? The actor said: "It would depend on how good an actress I was. I think if it turned out that Meryl Streep had been a stripper, nobody would care." Oh, I don't know. I think we'd care. At the very least we'd want to know her stripper name.
- ISRAEL IS braced. On Monday, Madonna launches "MDNA" concert tour there. Rumor has it that this is the most ambitious and physically daunting show Madonna has ever attempted. Nerves are frayed. Bodies are worked to the limit. But if her life depended on it, Madonna would never take the easy way. Testing herself--and her audience--is what drives her.
- TOM CRUISE gives a fascinating interview in the June issue of Playboy. It's not fascinating because Tom says anything eyebrow-raising. No, the fascinating aspect is that Tom talks a lot but kind of says nothing to writer Michael Fleming.
This is one of the most controlled, impersonal Q&A's I have ever read. But...it's not unfriendly or obviously withholding. Tom talks about his childhood, his family -- how his goal was always to take care of them...about his need for speed (motorcycles, racing, doing his own stunts) ... about inhabiting the skin of a rock 'n roll star in his soon-due "Rock of Ages"...and confronting the resistance to his casting as Lee Child's hero, Jack Reacher in "One Shot."
It's just that Cruise's answers are almost too perfect, too complete, too beginning/middle/end. It reminded me of Princess Diana's infamous TV sit-down with Martin Bashir--perfect soundbites--except Diana was deliberately playing the victim. Tom is no victim. Tom Cruise is the master of his universe and securely comfortable with where he is, what he's done, what he will do. He appears to be impressively centered.
He's a great movie star, and an underrated actor. (I happened to catch "Born on the Forth of July" the other night on cable. His desperate, drunken scene with his parents is so stunning. He deserved an Oscar, hands down. No offense to the winner, Daniel Day-Lewis.)
- LOVED Jacob Bernstein's article in last Sunday's New York Times, recalling the super-sensual disco era, epitomized by the late Donna Summer. Lots of music types, from publicist Liz Rosenberg to icon Deborah Harry, looked back with fondness onDonna's music and those wild times.
The most moving and trenchant remark came from designer Diane von Furstenberg: "'Last Dance'" was the song of that era, and of course it actually was the last dance. It was a moment of freedom that was never to be repeated again because there was no AIDS, and that makes all the difference."
- SPEAKING OF music, good news for fans of vinyl--it's really coming back. Last year vinyl sales were higher than at any time since 1992. And, according to Rolling Stone, there's new life in turntables, too. The least expensive record player (ah, that old phrase!) runs about $150 dollars. Something deluxe is in the $6,000 dollar area.
- "I like 'American Idol,' and a lot of why I like it is because I like looking at Jennifer Lopez, if you really wanna know."
That's Jane Fonda, admitting her "girl crush" on Ms. Lopez. Jane and Jennifer worked together memorably in "Monster-In-Law."
Jane recalls one day "We were sitting across from each other at a table and I said, 'I just have to tell you something: It's like looking at a perfect piece of Mayan sculpture.'" Fonda adds, as if we didn't get it: "She is really, seriously beautiful."