Salma Hayek is leaving the beach to save the day in the upcoming "Magic Mike" sequel.
Hayek – who often shares pictures of herself lounging in swimsuits while on a tropical vacation somewhere – is taking over a major role in the latest chapter in Channing Tatum's male stripper franchise, “Magic Mike’s Last Dance.”
The 55-year-old actress is joining the production and replacing "Westworld" star Thandiwe Newton, who dropped out of the movie days after filming on the project had begun.
As People reported, a spokesperson for Newton released a brief statement saying simply, "Thandiwe Newton has made the difficult decision to step away from the production of Warner Bros. Pictures' Magic Mike's Last Dance to deal with family matters.”
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While the specifics of Hayek's character have not been revealed, Tatum previously disclosed how the role would be crucial to the plot of the final film in the trilogy.
“It’s going to have a really strong, almost stronger than Mike, character that’s female," the actor told Variety. "We’ve never done a traditional love story, and this isn’t a traditional love story.”
Tatum had reservations about doing another "Magic Mike" movie due to the intense diet and fitness regimen required to keep looking like the ripped, titular character.
As he told Kelly Clarkson a couple months back when she held up a picture of him from 2015's “Magic Mike XXL,” "That might be the reason why I didn't want to do a third one,” he admitted. “Because I have to look like that."
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"It's hard to look like that,” he continued. “Even if you do work out, to be that kind of in shape is not natural. That's not even healthy. You have to starve yourself. I don't think when you're that lean, it's actually healthy.”
Rememeber when Steven Soderbergh said he was retiring from making movies? Anyway, he’s returning again as director for “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and Reid Carolin, who wrote the first two films, will be authoring the script again, finishing off the adventures of the conflicted male stripper.
“Magic Mike’s Last Dance” is currently in production and slated to appear exclusively on HBO Max.
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