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12/23/2024 04:44:48 am

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"Magic Mike XXL": Matthew McConaughey Out, Jada Pinkett-Smith In?

Director Gregory Jacobs revealed last Wednesday that Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey won't be reprising his role as "Dallas" and re-joining the scantily-clad cast of "Magic Mike XXL". 

Channing Tatum, the star, producer and co-writer of "Magic Mike", previously shared that he was pretty confident that the entire original cast would be back for the sequel. However, due to McConaughey's hectic schedule, he will be unable to join the movie.

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The acclaimed actor is currently filming the Gus Van Sant drama, "The Sea of Trees".

Jacobs, who took the reigns from the first installment director Steven Soderbergh, shared that aside from McConaughey's absence, the new movie will be "very different" from the first one. 

"It's road trip movie and put it this way, it's different enough that once you see it you'll understand why we made a sequel. No one will be accusing us of making the same movie twice," Jacobs stated.

Although Soderbergh isn't the director of the sequel, he is still very much involved with the production of the flick. Soderbergh is the second film's camera operator, editor and director of cinematography.

Jacobs shared that the movie continues to be a collaboration with Soderbergh, sharing that they constantly bounce off ideas off of each other.

"We already shot some second unit stuff which was a total blast. I think it's going to be a good time," Jacobs added.

Along with McConaughey's absence and Jacobs' taking the helm, Warner Bros. is reportedly determined to bring in Jada Pinkett-Smith into the cast as a nightclub owner, a role which was originally taken on by McConaughey. 

Tatum, Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello are still part of the sequel, with production commencing this month. The actors are said to have been hard at work getting strip-worthy.

The movie is set to be released in July 1, 2015.

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