mcfadden zeppelin: 'Magic Mike' Stars: 'Male Objectification' Doesn't Exist

Thursday, June 28, 2012

'Magic Mike' Stars: 'Male Objectification' Doesn't Exist

'I don't think anyone gets tired of screaming girls,' Alex Pettyfer tells MTV News.
By Kara Warner

Channing Tatum
Photo:

Oh, "Magic Mike" — we just can't seem to get enough info about this surprisingly complex comedy about male strippers.

The R-rated film is loosely based on star Channing Tatum's real-life stripper past, was directed by Oscar-winner Steven Soderbergh and features a very attractive ensemble cast including "True Blood" werewolf Joe Manganiello, "White Collar" star Matt Bomer, Alex Pettyfer and leading lady Cody Horn.

When MTV News caught up with the cast recently, we asked them to address the subject of male objectification and whether the guys felt any discomfort in playing sex objects or from all the screams and cat calls from the female extras in the audience for their stripping scenes.

"There's no such thing as male objectification, and I think that's what we're exposing with this movie," Manganiello said. "It doesn't exist. We really don't care. I think for the most part, it's just about having fun. It's like, 'Leave all that outside.' " "It's an interesting story to be a part of with an amazing director and a great cast that I've wanted to work with for a long time," Bomer added. "However that's going to be marketed and perceived is sort of out of our hands. We just had a great time telling the story."

"I want to be objectified, but I don't feel it," Pettyfer said.

Somehow, in the midst of all that unabashed admiration for their stripping, the guys just can't come to terms with any of that enthusiasm being negative, and we are almost inclined to agree. Relative newcomer Cody Horn, who plays Tatum's love interest and Pettyfer's sister in the film, offered an insightful perspective on the subject.

"They are objectified as a whole, as a group, but it was fun. It was fun as a girl to be a part of something that objectifies men," Horn said. "Because whether they know it or not, maybe that's just a testament to that they have no idea what it feels like. ... I think they had such fun doing it that it doesn't feel the same as when a woman is objectified."

"I don't think anyone gets tired of screaming girls," Pettyfer pointed out.

"It's high time that those tables be turned!" Bomer said.

Check out everything we've got on "Magic Mike."

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