Channing Tatum pranks ‘Magic Mike XXL’ fans with ‘3-D’ charity strip
Channing Tatum gave unsuspecting “Magic Mike XXL” fans a supersized surprise during a screening of his forthcoming stripper film.
With just 15 days left before the film’s red carpet premiere, Tatum teamed up with Omaze to benefit the Runa Foundation, a nonprofit that works with indigenous groups in the Amazon.
As part of the marketing push for the film and charity raffle, Tatum & Co. released a video of him surprising viewers at a test screening of the cavorting sequel.
“Watch me dance in disguise at the first-ever screening of Magic Mike XXL,” Tatum wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “We told fans it would be in ‘3D.’ I don’t think they saw this coming... Watch, then enter to be my special guest at the premiere of #MagicMikeXXL.”
Instead of attending the screening as the ripped exotic dancer we’ve come to know and love, Tatum had a makeup crew transform him into an aged, bald and bearded marketing executive.
As Scott Housely, a.ka. the “most terrifying marketing exec ever,” Tatum surveyed fans of the film who candidly revealed that the best actor in “Magic Mike” was Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey and that they cared little about the story in the film, a story based on Tatum’s own career origins.
Then the “Magic Mike” star, as Housely, told them they would be getting “a 3-D experience.”
Enter the exotic dancers, one of whom was the mild-mannered marketing exec, who gave one viewer a lap dance before revealing himself as Tatum.
The 35-year-old star said the prank was fun but promised that it wouldn’t be as fun as what the raffle winner would experience at the premiere.
The winner will fly to Los Angeles and stay in a four-star hotel, ride to the Hollywood premiere in Tatum’s motorcade, walk the red carpet and attend the VIP after-party.
Oh, and don’t forget your crumpled dollar bills, he said.
Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad.
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