Steven Soderbergh may be Director of Photography on Magic Mike 2 if Channing Tatum directs it

Channing Tatum has been asked about a sequel to MAGIC MIKE ever since the movie was released. He has leaned in multiple directions from directing it himself to saying it may not happen any time soon. With his celebrity at the highest it has ever been and on the verge of the release of WHITE HOUSE DOWN, The Hollywood Reporter asked Tatum about his upcoming projects like 22 JUMP STREET, his newborn bay, and the status of MAGIC MIKE 2:

It will be a road-trip movie, and it will essentially be the movie that everyone thought the first one was going to be: crazy and fun and less slice-of-life and less drama. The first one, we had to make not so cheesy and campy; this one we are going to swing for the fences.

This keeps in line with what we have heard previously about the movie. But, what made MAGIC MIKE a good movie was that it wasn’t a broad comedy and actually had some heart to it. I am not sure how such a flip in tone might affect the sequel, nor the rumors as to whether Channing Tatum will direct the film or not. Here is what Tatum said about helming the sequel himself:

That’s sort of where we are at — either [my producing partner] Reid Carolin and I will direct it together, or we’ll have Greg Jacobs direct. He worked as a producer on the [2012] movie and has been Steven’s right-hand man for almost 25 movies. Right now, we’re just trying to clean up the story, and then we’ll make a decision. But it is hard for me and Reid to direct after one of the greatest directors of our time. Steven has argued [for us to do so]. He has said he would shoot it; he would DP it. And there’s another thing: Is that good? Because he is such an opinionated and talented man, if he wants to do a five-minute tracking shot through a forest, you don’t want to doubt him. It would be like having sex with your girlfriend while her porn-star ex-boyfriend is in the room watching you.

Any director, especially a rookie filmmaker, taking over for someone like Soderbergh would be daunting. Having the director as your DP would be like having a driving instructor potentially pumping your brakes when you try to take the wheel. Having appeared in multiple films for him though, Tatum and Soderbergh may have found a rapport together that would make a project like this work.

Any of you excited for MAGIC MIKE 2?