The story of Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie is long and winding. So long that it encompasses two totally different generations of this website, stretching back a decade. The odyssey, which saw Tatum even considering to direct the film himself, hit a wall when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. But when Tatum was given the chance to finally be Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine, it was a chance he couldn’t turn down.
But that doesn’t mean it was all easy. Tatum fought alongside other surprise guests in former roles: Wesley Snipes as Blade, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, and Dafne Keen as X-23 aka Laura. In a new piece with the New York Times, director Shawn Levy talked about how emotional Tatum was at finally achieving this thing he had fought for so long…
“Channing was visibly emotional every day on set. Sometimes it was in the form of smiling euphoria and sometimes it was tearful gratitude, but I’ve never seen an actor more grateful to be on set than Channing Tatum. I was one of several dozen directors who interviewed to direct the “Gambit” movie over a decade ago, and the first time Ryan and I pitched Kevin Feige [the Marvel Studios president] the idea, we had to explain it a bit because this isn’t a capstone to legacy: This is a zig when all the other characters were zagging. It also gave an opportunity to cut against the grain of the other characters, because Gambit’s experience is diametrically different than all the other legends.”
Now there are fans out there who want Tatum to stay in the role now that the X-Men are part of the MCU. While it’s unclear where Marvel will go with Gambit, there’s one guy who enthusiastically endorses Tatum to stay as the Ragin’ Cajun: Ryan Reynolds.
“Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play. His story is similar to mine in that he spent a decade trying to put the most comic-accurate version of Gambit on the big screen. Remy LeBeau is grafted to his soul and needs to come out and deal. And Gambit found his author in Chan.”
Gambit is a guy Chan was born to play. His story is similar to mine in that he spent a decade trying to put the most comic-accurate version of Gambit on the big screen. Remy LeBeau is grafted to his soul and needs to come out and deal. And Gambit found his author in Chan. He’s… pic.twitter.com/9Hz7qbZ85S
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 5, 2024
Pretty cool. Something tells me we haven’t seen the last of Channing Tatum as Remy Lebeau.
