First Look: Manganiello 'Magic' Directorial Debut

2012's Magic Mike gave the world a behind the curtains look at life as a male exotic dancer, but for Joe Manganiello, co-starring in Steven Soderbergh's stripper opus didn't actually serve as his entree to that wild world. "A really good long time friend of mine was a male stripper in Dallas during the '90s at a club called La Bare," he revealed.

Now, Manganiello is making his directorial debut with a documentary about the men of La Bare and ETonline has your first look at the film above (La Bare will premiere at 2014's Slamdance Film Festival).

I recently had the opportunity to screen a rough cut of the film and I must admit that watching the real life Magic Mikes (one stripper even adopts Channing as his stage name) work their, well, magic is infinitely intriguing. But, like Soderbergh before him, Joe refuses to reduce these performers to pieces of meat. Through thought-provoking interviews, and fist-person accounts of La Bare's tumultuous -- and sometimes tragic -- history, he creates three-dimensional portraits of the men who live to make women feel good.

By driving home the joyful spirits these men bring to their jobs, and emphasizing the brotherhood they've formed, La Bare becomes so much more than a series of interviews linked by footage of rollicking routines (although Joe's camera captures those in all their glory as well)!

La Bare will have its world premiere at the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival.