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Thrill of ‘Discover E’: Children take part in nature camp

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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Amy Longsdorf | For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_joe.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Joe Manganiello poses for photographers upon arrival at the Magic Mike XXL European premiere in London, Tuesday, 30 June, 2015. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_joe.jpg</photo0><caption0>Joe Manganiello poses for photographers upon arrival at the Magic Mike XXL European premiere in London, Tuesday, 30 June, 2015. </caption0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_mmxxl.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">From left, Adam Rodriguez, Matt Bomer, Channing Tatum and Joe Manganiello pose for photographers upon arrival at the Magic Mike XXL European premiere in London, Tuesday, 30 June, 2015. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_mmxxl.jpg</photo1><caption1>From left, Adam Rodriguez, Matt Bomer, Channing Tatum and Joe Manganiello pose for photographers upon arrival at the Magic Mike XXL European premiere in London, Tuesday, 30 June, 2015. </caption1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_tatum.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Channing Tatum arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of &#8220;Magic Mike XXL&#8221; at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Thursday, June 25, 2015. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_tatum.jpg</photo2><caption2>Channing Tatum arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of &#8220;Magic Mike XXL&#8221; at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Thursday, June 25, 2015. </caption2></div></div>
<p>When production began on &#8220;Magic Mike&#8221; three years ago, Channing Tatum never imagined the male-stripper movie would hit so big at the box-office.</p><p>&#8220;We had no idea that the first one would do what it did,&#8221; said the actor, whose real-life experiences as an exotic dancer inspired the action. &#8220;We made it for so little money. We were just making this little independent movie and we won the lottery somehow.&#8221;</p><p>Indeed, Tatum and company hit the jackpot with the offbeat drama. Produced for a measly $7 million, &#8220;Magic Mike&#8221; wound up grossing more than $165 million worldwide.</p><p>That said, Tatum insists it was friendship not money which prompted most of the cast, including Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello, to reteam for the sequel &#8220;Magic Mike XXL.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;[Our camaraderie] was the reason to do the second one,&#8221; said Tatum, 35. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t need to write anything; we just needed to turn the cameras on.</p><p>&#8220;I know a lot of [actors] say, `We just love each other and love hanging out.&#8217; But I haven&#8217;t been on a movie where people would show up on their days off just to watch and support their friends. That doesn&#8217;t happen on a lot of movies. But it did here.&#8221;</p><p>Bomer seconds that emotion. &#8220;You get a group of people in a room and let them play and get to know each other and sometimes magic comes out of that,&#8221; he said.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what happened on the first movie. We all just made friends that we&#8217;ll have for the rest of our lives&#8230; I think that comes through [onscreen]. I think it&#8217;s the scandal that gets you in the door but the humanity of these characters that you actually end up falling in love with.&#8221;</p><p>Set three years after the events depicted in &#8220;Magic Mike,&#8221; the sequel is a more light-hearted look at the world of the bump and grind. The plot involves the guys (Tatum, Bomer, Manganiello, Kevin Nash, newbie Stephen &#8220;tWitch&#8221; Boss) hitting the road to a stripper convention in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and meeting lots of new and interesting folks along the way, including characters played by Jada Pinkett Smith, Amber Heard and Andie MacDowell.</p><p>The original &#8220;Magic Mike&#8221; was directed by Steven Soderbergh and the sequel is directed by Soderbergh&#8217;s longtime assistant Gregory Jacobs (&#8220;Wind Chill&#8221;). Soderbergh stayed on as &#8220;XXL&#8217;s&#8221; producer and cinematographer.</p><p>&#8220;This movie wouldn&#8217;t have been made without Greg,&#8221; Tatum said. &#8220;There&#8217;s no one else that we could have done the film with. Truly. Soderbergh had retired and the torch wasn&#8217;t going anywhere until Greg picked it up.&#8221;</p><p>While Matthew McConaughey opted not to reprise his role as a club owner in the sequel, &#8220;XXL&#8221; makes up for his absence by unreeling a handful of additional dance numbers.</p><p>Tatum downplays the amount of time it took him to look good enough to strut his stuff onscreen.</p><p>&#8220;We had a big CGI budget; that&#8217;s my face on tWitch&#8217;s body,&#8221; teases the actor.</p><p>&#8220;Actually, we had a good amount of time on this one [to prepare]. It was a little bit of an oversight on the last one that we couldn&#8217;t fit in all the dance routines so we kind of designed how we were dancing better in this movie so we could show them all.&#8221;</p><p>Tatum takes credit for being the one who insisted that the dance routines push the envelope of sexiness.</p><p>&#8220;Once you see one person going onstage and taking their clothes off, the next one can&#8217;t be just the same thing,&#8221; said the actor, who was voted People Magazine&#8217;s Sexiest Man Alive.</p><p>&#8220;I just wanted to rock it. The first [movie] was kind of tethered to reality but the real world of male strippers isn&#8217;t all that interesting.</p><p>&#8220;I was, like, `If we&#8217;re going to do another one, let&#8217;s go all out&#8217; I didn&#8217;t want to ever do a fireman routine on any stage ever again. I think all the guys brought their own thing to it. Everyone. It was fun to craft what they were all interested in doing.&#8221;</p><p>In &#8220;XXL,&#8221; many of the cast members got the chance to shine. It was Manganiello, for instance, who revealed to Tatum and Jacobs that Bomer had a great voice and deserved a big musical number in the film.</p><p>&#8220;Matt is such a humble guy that I feel like sometimes I&#8217;m Matt&#8217;s agent, or I&#8217;m Matt&#8217;s color man, letting people know Matt can sing,&#8221; said Manganiello, 38. &#8220;I remember&#8230;talking to Channing and Steven and saying, &#8216;You gotta make Matt sing.&#8217; So I&#8217;m so happy that the world will finally know. &#8220;</p><p>Bomer and Manganiello are old college pals who attended Carnegie Mellon together in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, graduating in 2000.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve known Matt since he was 18 and we did come up through drama school together,&#8221; Manganiello said.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;ve done Chekhov and Shakespeare and Ibsen and all of that,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Now, at this moment in our careers where Scene 1, Take 1, it&#8217;s `Joe, you&#8217;re going to get naked and cannonball Channing [Tatum] into a pool.&#8217; So that education really paid off.&#8221;</p><p>For his part, Bomer relished the scene of Manganiello performing a sexy dance routine at a gas station convenience store.</p><p>&#8220;Seeing the mini-mart scene with Joe, seeing the culmination of all those years just come to fruition in that moment, to me, was so mind-blowing and epic,&#8221; said Bomer, 37. &#8220;I literally just stood behind the camera, just wanting popcorn &#8230; with my jaw on the ground, just thanking God.&#8221;</p><p>During another even more athletic dance number, Manganiello ripped his bicep. Rather than quit the routine, the actor kept going until he was finished for the day.</p><p>&#8220;Usually, bicep snaps roll up into your shoulder and the arm turns black and caves in,&#8221; Manganiello said. &#8220;But that didn&#8217;t happen so we thought it was a dislocated bone in my arm.</p><p>&#8220;This masseuse was trying to work this bone back into my arm and&#8230; Channing was, like, &#8216;I&#8217;ll move my routine up.&#8217; But there was no way to do that. I said, `I&#8217;m not gonna make it tomorrow. Tomorrow my arm&#8217;s not gonna move. We gotta do it now.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Adds Tatum, &#8220;It was right out of `Rocky.&#8217; I was, like, &#8216;I&#8217;ll go on, man.&#8217; And he was all, &#8216;No, I got it! Just pop it back in. I can do it.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>After Manganiello wrapped for the day, he was congratulated by everyone on set. But his fianc&#233;, actress Sofia Vergara, gave him a good scolding.</p><p>&#8220;We made it through and everyone was patting me on the back, &#8220;Bro that was amazing!,&#8217; &#8220; recalls the actor. &#8220;Sofia was there that day and she looked at me and said, &#8220;If I see you at that gym tomorrow, we&#8217;re done. I&#8217;m going to leave you. You have to go to a doctor.&#8217; And I did. &#8221;</p><p>&#8220;And he hasn&#8217;t been back to the gym since,&#8221; joked Tatum.</p><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Amy Longsdorf is the Times Leader&#8217;s ticket into the Hollywood movie world. Her column, Vintage Videos, include reviews of DVDs with local ties. She also interviews stars of soon-to-be-released movies.</shirttailMeta></div>

At its core, ‘Magic Mike XXL’ tale of camaraderie