Channing Tatum says he has been unable to watch Marvel movies ever since his planned X-Men spinoff film Gambit was scrapped.
“Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized,” Tatum said during a recent interview with Variety. “I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.”
A solo film starring the fan-favorite X-Men mutant Remy LeBeau/Gambit was in the works at 20th Century Fox for several years. Tatum had his first brush with playing Gambit during the development of 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, though the character was written out of the script before the actor could officially be cast in the role. Gambit was later portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
By early 2014, X-Men producer Lauren Shuler Donner had begun planning a Gambit solo film starring Tatum, who officially signed on for the project later that same year. Tatum was set to produce the film alongside Reid Carolin through their Free Association production company, with Josh Zetumer penning the script. The spinoff film originally carved out an Oct. 7, 2016 release date.
However, Gambit was then hit with multiple delays and lingered in development hell for a number of years. Rupert Wyatt had signed on to direct the film in mid 2015, though exited the project later that same year. Wyatt was replaced by Doug Liman, who himself ultimately departed Gambit as well. In October 2017, Gore Verbinski was hired to direct Gambit, with the film now targeting a Feb. 14, 2019 release. Verbinski ended up dropping out of the project in January 2018.
With The Walt Disney Company moving to acquire 20th Century Fox, there was speculation that the Gambit film would be one of many casualties of the deal. Nevertheless, as of early 2019, the film was reportedly “still being worked on.” There were even murmurs of Tatum potentially stepping up to direct the movie himself. Disney’s acquisition of Fox was finalized in March 2019. That same month, X-Men producer Simon Kinberg said that like every other Fox project at the time, Disney was still “evaluating” whether or not it would go ahead with Gambit. Gambit was removed from Disney’s release schedule the following May, with the film more or less being confirmed dead by October.
Elsewhere in the aforementioned Variety interview, Tatum offered more details regarding Gambit‘s cancellation. “The studio really didn’t want us to direct it,” he said. “They wanted anybody but us, essentially, because we had never directed anything.”
Tatum also spoke highly of the script Carolin ultimately co-wrote with Zetumer, which he says was similar in tone to Ryan Reynolds’ own X-Men spinoff film, Deadpool. “They would call [Gambit] ‘flamboyant’ in his description,” Tatum said. “I wouldn’t — he was just the coolest person. He could pull anything off. Most superheroes, their outfits are utilitarian. Batman’s got his belt. Gambit’s like, ‘No, this shit’s just fly, bro! This shit walked down the Paris runway last year.’ He’s just wearing the stuff that’s so dope because he loves fashion.”
Source: Variety
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