Channing Tatum will take his clothes off for Steven Soderbergh

Channing Tatum is set to star in male-stripper movie Magic Mike for Steven Soderbergh.

The movie will be based on the star's own experiences; Tatum shook his booty for cash before launching a modelling career, and eventually graduating into acting.

As the Deadline report notes, this news is also interesting from the Soderbergh-retirement angle, with the prolific director recently claiming that he'd hang up the megaphone after Contagion , Liberace and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

Soderbergh said of this new project: "When Channing talked to me about this, I thought it was one of the best ideas I'd ever heard for a movie.

"I said I wanted in immediately. It's sexy, funny and shocking. We're using Saturday Night Fever as our model, so hopefully we're on the right track."

Saturday Night Fever is an interesting reference point, as it's actually a hell of a lot darker and grimier than its reputation would suggest.

Tatum added: "This was a wild and pivotal time in my life and I couldn't be more thrilled to go down the rabbit hole with Steven."

Channing Tatum frequently appears in weak material, so it'll be interesting to see his acting chops get a rigorous workout under Soderbergh's direction.

Hopefully the intriguing premise multiplied by the real-life angle will help him to turn in a career-redefining performance.

And if Soderbergh doesn't want to retire just yet, that's fine by us...

Matt Maytum
Editor, Total Film

I'm the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I've worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.