It’s been nearly four years since Channing Tatum stood onstage at Comic-Con alongside the casts of Deadpool, Logan, Fantastic Four and X-Men: Apocalypse with the promise to star in a Gambit movie. Now, in an article from Deadline about the actor leaving his longtime reps at UTA and Management 360, it is mentioned that we could see Channing Tatum direct Gambit himself for 20th Century Fox after a string of filmmakers passed on the opportunity.
Even though he has personally served as producer on several of his biggest hits, including the Magic Mike and 21 Jump Street films, this would mark Tatum’s first foray into directing. He would still headline as Remy LeBeau from a script by his longtime Free Association production partner Reid Carolin (Magic Mike, Magic Mike XXL), although the project currently has no start date.
One thing possibly standing in the way of the project moving forward is the Fox-Disney merger, which is expected to close this coming March. It is entirely possible that once the merger goes through a Gambit film will not fit into plans to integrate X-Men characters into the Marvel Studios universe. It is already rumored that Fox’s in-development Marvel projects like Gambit, Drew Goddard’s X-Force and Noah Hawley’s Dr. Doom movie will not live to see the sun rise once the Disney deal goes through.
RELATED: Director Gore Verbinski has pulled out of the Gambit movie
Last year current franchise overseer Simon Kinberg told IGN that they are envisioning Gambit as a “romantic comedy.”
“When you look at Gambit, he’s a hustler and a womanizer and we just felt like there was an attitude, a swagger to him, that lent itself to romantic comedy,” said Kinberg. “You know, when I say romantic comedy, I use that term loosely, in the same term that I use the term western for ‘Logan’ loosely. It’s not like they’re gunslingers at high noon in ‘Logan.’ It’s just a vibe. And I would say the vibe of ‘Gambit’ has a romantic or sex comedy vibe to it. While it is also still very much a superhero movie with villains and heroes, as all these movies are.”
Kinberg added that “‘Gambit’ has a great script and we’re looking to start that movie early next year.” The film has already passed through three previous directors: Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
