True Blood heartthrob Joe Manganiello is set to unveil his directorial debut with a documentary about male strippers that was inspired by his role in Magic Mike.
The star came close to baring it all in the hit 2012 film as an exotic dancer, and now he's turning the camera on real-life strippers in a film called Le Bare.
While he was doing research for his role as Big Dick Richie in Magic Mike, Manganiello turned to an old pal who used to work at one of the most popular male strip clubs, Le Bare Dallas, in Texas.
"One of my old friends was a male stripper there in the '90s," said Manganiello.
"He was the originator of the fireman routine there, which he helped me with for Magic Mike.
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At first the friend's line of work was never discussed, but when the actor landed his Magic Mike role, the two went to lunch and Manganiello was impressed by the "outrageous and hilarious" stories he heard.
"Then most of the people that came out of Magic Mike said, 'We loved it, but we wanted to see more of the guys.'
"So I thought, 'Okay, I'm gonna go film the real guys'."
The 37-year-old, who produced the film along with his brother Nick, brought Le Bare to the Slamdance Festival in Park City, Utah earlier this year, where studio bosses at Main Street Films bought the distribution rights.
Le Bare is set to hit theatres in the United States on June 27.
