This Friday, May 22, Jean Claude Lamarre’s version of the hit male stripper film Magic Mike, called Chocolate City, will be released in theaters.
TheKnockturnal got a chance to see the film, which stars Vivica A. Fox, Robert Ri’chard, Darrin Dewitt Henson, Tyson Beckford, Michael Jai White and DeRay Davis at last night’s New York City premiere. Of the film’s stars Vivica, Robert and Darrin attended the screening, while Tyson, Michael and DeRay were not in attendance.
What makes Chocolate different from Mike is that although both films center around the male strip club and exotic dancing culture, Chocolate targets an ethnic audience which the filmmakers felt were neglected with the Magic Mike film. During a Q and A after the premiere screening, Vivica A.Fox who plays the main character’s mother spoke on what she feels is the deeper meaning of the film beyond simply showing male exotic dancing saying, “Besides it being really sexy, there was also a good story there … it goes to show you that all people who work in strip clubs that they’re not bad people. That a lot of them are working to help their family, working their way through college, you shouldn’t judge others and put them down for what their hustle might be.”
The film’s star Robert Ri’chard best known for his role as Arnaz on the UPN television series One on One, talked about making the transition to such a mature adult leading role saying, “It means a lot for me to just be able to entertain everybody. I just matured, and my body started to change a lot. I just wanna give everybody the same level of entertainment that they’ve always got from me. This is a good one to have on the shelf, that’s for sure.”
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-Kadeem Lundy
