On a recent interview with Adam Rodriguez by Jacob E. Osterhout from the New York Daily News, the 37-year-old actor best known for playing A»CSI: MiamiA» character Eric Delko speaks about his role in Magic Mike, a film where he dances as a male stripper alongside Alex Pettyfer, Channing Tatum and Matthew McConaughey. A Losing his inhibitions about male strippers was not easy, A»I was blown away by how much energy these guys put into their show,A» says Rodriguez, who had never been to a male strip club before. A»They had choreographed routines with themes and incredible costumes and videos that went with the music.A»
Rodriguez plays the experienced stripper Tito in Magic Mike, so as not to look ridiculous dancing next to Tatum, Rodriguez trained more than two hours each day for a month. A But dance skills alone werenA’t going to cut it. A Adam checked out The Hollywood Men show, which bills itself as A»L.A.A’s best and only full production male exotic show for ladies.A
As it may be expected, males stripping for women is different from women stripping for men. A Rodriguez adds, A»Guys will watch a naked woman do anything. But women want a show with a bit more stimulation and a high production value. Plus, men have to keep their hands to themselves, while women are allowed to go absolutely crazy.A»
According to OsterhoutA’s article, SoderberghA’s film does not skimp on dance scenes; it also focuses on life away from the stage. TatumA’s character, Mike, struggles to protect the new kid (Alex Pettyfer) from the perils of Club Xquisite and achieve his lofty goal beyond the world of adult dance clubs. After all, Mike is awfully good at designing furniture.
But itA’s the scenes on the stage that really challenged the men, including Rodriguez. A A»Every time I was about to go onstage and dance A– knowing that I would be wearing nothing but a thong by the end of the routine A– was very intimidating,A» Rodriguez says. A»I had to make these dance moves look easy and then pull my pants off at the end so my ass was just hanging out. ThatA’s scary.A»A
Sometimes the costumes were even more intimidating than the dancing. A Playing male strippers also required a fair amount of A– how shall we say? A– grooming. A A»The actual waxing wasnA’t that bad,A» Rodriguez says. A»It was the hair growing back that was uncomfortable and prickly, no pun intended. I can promise you this: there will be no more waxing unless there is a Magic Mike 2. According to both Rodriguez, the rush of doing something outside their comfort zone was intoxicating. A A»ItA’s about attacking your fears,A» Rodriguez says. A»ItA’s that feeling you get right before youA’re going to bungee jump, those butterflies, that I love.A»
