While it was aiming for a spring start date, 20th Century Fox’s X-Men spin-offGambitwas dealt a serious blow in October when directorDoug Limanleft the project, in favor of making the Warner Bros./DC Films superhero adventureJustice League Dark. While Gambit still doesn’t have a director at this time, the project is forever moving forward, with Channing Tatum still attached to play the title character. While promoting his new filmThe Wall, Doug Liman revealed why he leftGambit.
The director spoke withWe Got This Covered, and he asked why he stepped away from Gambit, just months before shooting was scheduled to begin. At the time, there was no concrete reason given for his departure, but the director revealed in this new interview that he didn’t feel any personal connection to the material. Here’s what he had to say about why he left theGambit movie.
“I look for a personal connection to the movies I make and it may not be immediately obvious. You know, like what’s my connection to Jason Bourne? I have a deeply personal connection to that movie because it’s all about Iran-Contra and my father ran the investigations into Iran-Contra. In every story I have a personal connection. The Wall, you’d be like what could this filmmaker from New York possibly have in common with these two soldiers pinned down in Iraq? But The Wall is really about perseverance. It’s about picking yourself up and you just keep going and that’s something I have firsthand experience with. Not in war but in other aspects of life. WithGambit, I just never found that personal way in. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Aside fromChanning Tatum, no other cast members have been announced yet. The last we heard aboutGambitis when producerSimon Kinbergconfirmed that production likely won’t take place until 2018. The producer did add that Channing Tatum is as committed to this project in the same way that Ryan Reynolds was committed toDeadpool, which is certainly an encouraging sign for fans, considering how popularDeadpoolturned out to be, despite a lengthy delay. While fans may want to seeGambiton the big screen as soon as humanly possible, the delay may actually be beneficial to the film.
Last March, a report surfaced that theGambit delayswere due to script rewrites. Joshua Zetumer (RoboCop) wrote the original draft of the screenplay, with Channing Tatum’s writing and producing partner Reid Carolin taking over the writing duties. Little is known about how the story has changed from one draft to another, but hopefully we’ll have more updates onGambitsooner rather than later. Then again, if production doesn’t in fact happen until 2018, then we may not learn much more for several months, until casting begins.
