Interview: Joe Manganiello

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The AfterElton Interview: Joe Manganiello
Posted by Jim Halterman, Entertainment Reporter on June 21, 2012

At a towering 6 ft, 5 inches of masculinity and muscle, Joe Manganiello stands out in a crowd. But he deserves to be known as much for his acting skills as he is for his pecs and abs, and he’s also cool with adoration from his gay fans. It’s a good thing that the 35-year old actor is so evolved, because with the fifth season of HBO’s True Blood currently airing and the big screen male stripper movie Magic Mike opening June 29th, he’s only going to be getting a lot of lustful attention as the summer unfolds.

AfterElton grabbed some time with the busy actor and found out some surprising things about him, including how it was working with his old college buddy, Matt Bomer, his aspirations outside of acting, his concerns about being typecast for his shirtlessness as well as the surprising skill he mastered at the ripe old age of six!

Joe Manganiello is more likely to cause a fire than put one out in Magic Mike

AfterElton: Let’s talk True Blood first. One thing I’ve noticed is that for a werewolf Alcide has a very nice moral line. Do we ever see that kind of get shaken, or would you like to see that get shaken up a little bit?
Joe Manganiello: Yeah, you will see that get shaken up. Towards the end of the season you will definitely see that, but I think it is done in a very interesting way, let’s just say that. It is done in a way that made me very excited when I read it.

AE: Is this something you’ve wanted to see happen for him since you’ve been on the show?
JM: It actually is. I’ve wanted to see what would happen if he crossed the line, and I think everybody that is watching whether you consciously know it or not, it is a line that gets crossed that you really want to see get crossed, yeah.

AE: Alcide is still very moony-eyed over Sookie (Anna Paquin), but their timing always seems to be a little off. I’m wondering, is he going to wait around, or is he eventually going to get tired of waiting?
JM: He is a man at the end of the day. He's a man with a big heart, and I think that he needs it to be reciprocated. So I think there is only so long that someone can go without it being reciprocated. But hopefully the timing does wind up working out at some point.

AE: Vampires traditionally are very sexual and very homoerotic. Do you think werewolves are kind of the same way?
JM: Elements of homoeroticism in werewolves? I don’t think Alcide is. Alcide is straight, and I’m trying to think of the other werewolves. That storyline hasn’t really been explored on the show.

AE: And of course Magic Mike is getting so much attention. I don’t know if I remember a movie getting this much buzz way before it came out. I’m sure you’ve been hearing a lot about it from fans.
JM: Pretty much once we starting shooting it in October it has dominated every conversation I think I’ve had. I was in Spiderman, and I’ve been a part of some pretty big movies and big projects, and I’ve never seen anything like the amount of attention and curiosity about it like Magic Mike. It is wild.

In Miami during the Magic Mike junket, Joe can't help but turn heads (and cameras)

AE: Outside of the fun it looks like this movie is, what drew you to be a part of it?
JM: Steven Soderbergh, for sure, [Matthew] McConaughey, Channing [Tatum], and Matt Bomer…so the people that I was working with. I think also the subject material was curious to me and that whole world. I started working in clubs at age 16, so it is all a story about the club life. About picking the sex, drugs, and rock and roll kind of thing. I think that was interesting to me as well. It seemed like a lot of fun, the stuff that they were giving me to do. I mean, hell, they offered me a part. The part of Big Dick Richie and with everything that goes along with that in the movie and that writing, I was laughing hysterically. The gags that I have are just kind of all fun.

AE: What is your character about? Just hearing that name you think maybe that’s all he is, but is that all we see of him in the movie?
JM: You have to go see it and see. Yeah, he talks and interacts and obviously there is more to him than just that, but it is a lot of fun.

AE: What were your stripper moves before the movie compared to after the movie? Did you learn some stuff on the set?
JM: Oh yeah, I learned a lot on the set for sure. I think there is a lot in Magic Mike that would have been applicable for this season of True Blood. I definitely got some ideas from shooting Magic Mike for certain scenes that come up this year on True Blood.

AE: You’re good at teasing! Do you have a best dance move in general, not necessarily stripping, but just a dance move that you are good at?
JM: I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to go out to a club and go dancing. I’m just not really that guy, but yeah, I think that male stripping is all about the hips, the pelvis and that whole thing. You come away with some basic moves that are either applicable to life or, like I said, you can take those on to a show like True Blood and use them there. There are definitely some moves that I can use this year on the show.

Earlier this year, Manganiello guest-starred on White Collar with his college pal, Matt Bomer

AE: I know you and Matt Bomer have been buddies for a long time. Was there a different side of him that you saw that you didn’t know he had or did you know that he had this in him?
JM: Matt is hysterically funny. Matt is one of the funniest people that I know, so the two of us together we were just laughing our asses off the whole time. Yeah, I know Matt really, really well and Matt is the kind of actor that can pull off anything. The guy is so versatile. Especially even at school, he was a triple threat, and he was a computer major. He was a singer, dancer, actor, so I wouldn’t say that I was shocked by any of it, but I will say that working on the movie was probably the most fun I think I’ve ever had at work. I was surprised by how ridiculously funny it all was and how much fun we all had. I was surprised by how cool all of the guys were. Not necessarily Matt, because I’ve known Matt for years, but all the rest of the guys in the movie. I made friends for life. These guys are awesome.

AE: You’ve always been really great with your gay fans, but when in your life were you aware of gay people in the world?
JM: Yeah, in high school I was aware, but I would say that probably drama school. I think drama school I was aware because I think the high school I went to was a bit sheltered, a bit conservative in many ways. I should say a bit homogenized in a certain way...there was not a lot of diversity. By the time I got out of there and got to college, especially drama school all of the sudden some of my best friends are gay and my classmates are gay and we’re reading Angels in America as freshmen, and all of the sudden you’re realizing this is a big part of culture. And this is actually a big part of the profession that I am in being an artist. So I think it was college that really opened my eyes to a lot of stuff that I just didn’t have growing up in the town that I grew up in.

Sookie! Sookie! Sookie! Isn't it getting old, Alcide?

AE: Okay, and now a lot of the attention that you get is for your body but are there any qualms that your acting isn’t the first thing people might notice?
JM: Actually, man, I spent the first half of my career doing nothing but Shakespeare, Chekhov, Ibsen, ancient Greek. People ask me, ‘Oh, are you worried about getting typecast? I mean typecast as a guy who works with Oscar winners? I work with Alan Ball. I work with Steven Soderbergh. I think it’s going okay.

The acting part of it or the training part it doesn’t disappear. It doesn’t go somewhere. I do things 110 percent. That is just how I am. If the part requires me looking a certain way then that is how I’m going to look, and it just seems like right now these are the parts that are coming up. Projects with phenomenal, fantastic people, casts, actors, directors, writers, and show runners. So if it’s a good project I’m going to do it, and if my shirt is off in it then I’m going to do that 110 percent. If my shirt is on I’m going to do that 110 percent. I’m really not concerned. As you know, my shirt is on the first four episodes of True Blood this year, and there is some pretty heavily dramatic stuff that goes on there.

AE: Beyond acting, but do you have aspirations to write or direct?
JM: Yeah, I’ve written stuff before, and I’m actually looking to put together a couple of producing projects that I hope to shoot during my hiatus in 2013. Producing is definitely on the radar for now. I mean it is hard directing, that is probably more down the line, but I could definitely see myself doing it at some point. But for right now I want to produce projects that I would want to see.

AE: Last question, what would fans be surprised to find out about you?
JM: I used to compete in chess tournaments when I was six years old.

AE: When you were six?!
JM: I got third place in a chess tournament when I was six.

AE: Do you still play chess?
JM: I haven’t played in a little while just because I’ve been so busy, but I love it.

True Blood airs Sundays at 9pm et/pt on HBO. Magic Mike opens in theaters on June 29th.