Finally, Channing Tatum has given up on his Gambit X-Men Marvel project. A decade after launching Gambit, “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” star and producer reflects. Tatum has been trying to develop a Gambit film ever since he was almost cast as the character in “X-Men: The Last Stand” and led a spin-off solo film slated for 2016. By 2019, a Gambit movie was considered dead due to director turnover.
“It got swallowed up into Disney by way of Marvel when they bought Fox, and ultimately I just think that the tone of the movie we wanted to make was very far from what they wanted to do — or, you know, maybe they’re waiting to see how they do it with us or without us,” Tatum told Vanity Fair. “We call every once in a while, but we’ve got to spiritually, emotionally, kind of mentally let it go.”
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Tatum was unable to take on the role in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” due to scheduling conflicts with “GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra.” Taylor Kitsch played the role in the standalone “X-Men” prequel film starring Hugh Jackman.
In 2014, 20th Century Fox greenlit a solo “Gambit” film starring Tatum. Lizzy Caplan and Léa Seydoux were both considered for the role at some point. It took Tatum and Reid Carolin a few years to decide on a director after cycling through Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski. As a result, Disney-Fox passed on the idea (via Collider), and “Gambit” was officially canceled by May 2019.
20th Century Fox representatives wanted Tatum and Carolin to direct the X-Men movie, which would have been their directorial debuts. Tatum told Variety in February 2022 that 20th Century Fox representatives “really didn’t want us to direct it.” Nevertheless, the pair directed “Dog” last year. The Gambit movie script was written by Tatum and Carolin, who defended their interpretation.
“They would call him ‘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. Batmans 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.”
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According to Tatum, he was “traumatized” by the fact that the movie never came to fruition.
“I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven’t been able to see any of the movies,” the “She’s the Man” alum said. “I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him. We wanted to make a romantic comedy Superhero movie.”
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“The thesis was the only thing harder than saving the world is making a relationship work. We were right on the one-yard line. We had cast the film. We’d opened up a production office. We were on our way to shoot in New Orleans.Disney had just gotten the ‘X-Men’ from Fox. I think they needed to redesign the ‘X-Men’ from the ground up.”
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