Backstage with… the stars of Welcome To Chippendales – charting the murderous history of the American dance troupe
When you see that a new show about the Chippendales is starting on Disney+, your first reaction is probably: “Oh cute, those little animated squirrels who are best friends with Mickey Mouse!”
But no. It’s not the Rescue Rangers.
Instead, a drama about the drug-filled and murderous history of one of the most iconic dance troupes in America, the Chippendales, has hit the streamer – you know, the buff lads that take their clothes off for their adoring audience of (largely, but not exclusively, women).
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With an all-star cast, Welcome To Chippendales tells the story of US immigrant Somen ‘Steve’ Banerjee (played by Marvel star Kumail Nanjiani) and his rise to fame, and infamy, and finally his fall from grace, all in the name of keeping his raunchy revue show alive at any cost.
Joining Nanjiani is Broadway icon Annaleigh Ashford, who plays Banerjee’s wife Irene, White Lotus star Murray Bartlett as troupe choreographer Nick De Noia and Dan Stevens as Paul Snider – the man who killed his Playboy model wife in a fit of jealousy.
“The Chippendales dancers are sort of an American icon, if you will,” Ashford explained to Backstage, the TV and film podcast from Sky News.
“They’re sort of a funny part of pop culture that came about in the late seventies and kind of lived through the early nineties.”
She added: “Since the dawn of time, we’ve been watching men get to watch women take their clothes off, so it took until 1970 for women to watch men take their clothes off.
“That’s always been sort of… Chippendales culture that I think is fascinating – but basically, we think of collars and cuffs and men taking their pants off for ladies. Finally.”
Pic: Disney+
Pic: Disney+
Ashford also explained that her mother’s love of true-crime meant she knew about the troupe’s murky history.
“My mom watches a lot of true-crime shows, and so she had told me about it many moons ago.
“Lots of murder and in lots of different places and very, very shocking. The kind of story that if you wrote it from your brain, we’d all say, ‘that’s too crazy. That would never happen in real life’.
“So that’s obviously why we needed to make a television show about it.”
But while Ashford was tapped in to what the Chippendales are – Nanjiani had less of an idea.
“I honestly didn’t know much about the story behind it until this project came my way,” he admitted to Backstage.
“I didn’t know that it was an immigrant who started Chippendales, I didn’t know that it had this like sort of sordid backstory with, you know, the sex and drugs. The arson and murder were surprising – so I really had no idea until… the creator of our show told me what happens episode by episode.
“And that’s when I found out all of this. I had no idea about any of this. Chippendales is a part of pop culture… but the story behind it surprisingly is not.”
The Chippendales has a pretty dark history… Pic: Disney+
When asked what made them want to play the roles, one a murderous strip club owner and the other his dutiful wife, Ashford replied: “We crave characters who are complicated, who have high stakes, who have challenges, and the circumstances of this story are just a wonderful sort of breeding ground for all of those complicated things to navigate as a character and as an actor.
“Just if anything, I was happy to say yes, to dive into some good wigs and wardrobe.”
Nanjiani fired back: “I thought you said it was because of me that you wanted to do it. You said the reason you were doing it was because of me. What? I don’t know what all this stuff is…?”
Ashford said that of course her co-star was one of the “puzzle pieces” as to why wanted to take the role, with Nanjiani joking: “I just want to be a piece of the puzzle.”
Welcome To Chippendales is streaming now on Disney+ – hear our team’s review on this week’s Backstage, the TV and film podcast from Sky News.
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John David Washington says he felt like he had to conceal his desire to act because of the external expectations of him being the child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
He tells Sky News it took some time for him to pursue an acting career, choosing football instead to assert his “independence” and create his own “identity” separate from his famous family.
“I’ve been wanting to do this my whole life… but I was hiding it,” he said.
“I had to conceal that passion based on my relationship to the world and more specifically, my folks being in the industry, so I chose ball.
“I loved ball, but I was sort of hiding my love for the arts under a helmet – literally an American football helmet – and so when I wanted to become an actor, when I decided to pursue it, that was a big shock to some people.”
The 40-year-old actor says when he decided to pursue an acting career, he kept the decision quiet.
“Some people didn’t know I was even pursuing it professionally until I got a job,” he said.
John David with fellow actor Danielle Deadwyler. Pic: David Lee/ Netflix
Since switching to acting, John David has starred in a number of notable roles including the protagonist in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, Ron Stallworth in BlacKkKlansman and Joshua in The Creator.
He also led the stage revival of the 2022 Tony-nominated play The Piano Lesson on Broadway alongside Samuel L Jackson.
“He [Jackson] originated the role [I play] in 1987 at Yale with Lloyd Richards and August Wilson,” John David said.
“So it was of great importance for us to learn from both he and Michael Potts about August Wilson. It was a great blessing for me, I think, for all of us to have him present on set.”
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The Piano Lesson is the third August Wilson play to be adapted for the screen by Denzel Washington’s production company Mundy Lane Entertainment.
It is part of a pledge made by the Gladiator II actor to make all 10 of the playwright’s works into films.
The Netflix project is directed by another Washington family member, Malcolm, and stars most of the cast from the Broadway revival.
The Piano Lesson is Malcolm Washington’s directorial debut. Pic: Katia Washington/ Netflix
Set in 1936 Pittsburgh in the aftermath of the Great Depression, the film centres on a family heirloom, a piano, that is etched with the carvings of their family history made by their enslaved ancestor.
Malcolm says he started reading the play for the first time during the pandemic and immediately wanted to be involved in the film adaptation.
“I think with this movie, reclamation of story and identity is so central to the theme and it’s something that’s central to my life where I both acknowledge the fertile ground that I was raised on and who I am today.
“That’s what Wining Boy [played by Michael Potts] really is trying to do, he’s trying to build on that legacy, so that’s a story that really resonated with me.”
The filmmaker added: “I take all the gifts that my ancestors laid in front of me, and I’m trying to build something for the next generation to pass down – all of their gifts, plus mine to the next generation and let them build on it.”
Malcolm has dedicated his directorial debut to his mother, Pauletta Washington. Pic: David Lee/Netflix
Malcolm says his goal was to put family at the forefront of the production. By dedicating his feature debut to “Mama”, he is acknowledging the dedication and sacrifices that mothers make for the growth of their families.
“There’s so much pointing to my mother in particular, who inspired this adaptation so much. I see so much of her life in Berniece’s character [played by Danielle Deadwyler] – and that became a guiding light for me in this adaptation,” he said.
“As we made this thing and started reconnecting with our ancestors, my mum became like a kind of representative of them.
“She’s the matriarch of our family. She tells me about my grandparents and great-grandparents and the line that I come from, and I see them in her.
“And when the movie ends, I want people to kind of have that moment of reflection for their own lives. So in dedicating it to her, I was trying to dedicate it to all mums everywhere.”
The Piano Lesson is now available on Netflix.
Blockbuster Wicked has landed the largest opening weekend of 2024 at Vue International.
The film, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Grammy-winning pop star Ariana Grande as Elphaba and Glinda, surpassed both Gladiator II and Paddington In Peru.
It has also had the largest opening weekend for a stage musical adaptation in the cinema chain’s history.
A boss for Vue International said it had seen a “sea of pink and green” over the weekend.
Ariana Grande (left) as Glinda and Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in the film. Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Pic: PA
Released on Friday, Wicked is up 60% on Les Miserables’ opening weekend in 2012 and three times larger than the 2022 film adaptation of Matilda.
Founder and chief executive of Vue International Tim Richards said: “Vue has seen a sea of pink and green over the opening weekend of Wicked, which has shown continued high demand for the big screen experience.
“We saw record-breaking pre-sales for Wicked, followed by a chart-topping opening weekend – the biggest for 2024.”
The film is the first of two parts, with the second expected in November next year.
Wicked and Gladiator II – known together as Glicked – have reportedly failed to beat out Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, in its own opening weekend last summer.
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Glicked brought in £215m in worldwide ticket sales – with Wicked making the majority of that.
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