Writer Reid Carolin reveals new Gambit movie story details for the cancelled X-Men spinoff starring Channing Tatum he was set to produce. Created by Chris Claremont and artist Jim Lee, Remy Etienne LeBeau made his debut in 1990's The Uncanny X-Men No. 14 as a member of a thieves' guild before eventually becoming a full-fledged member of the X-Men. Gambit is well-known for his ability to manipulate and control pure kinetic desire and utilize a bō staff and card-throwing abilities in his battles.
After appearing in a number of animated shows, including the fan-favorite X-Men: The Animated Series, Gambit would properly make his live-action debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine with Taylor Kitsch playing the character. Following the critical failure of the prequel film, Fox would eye new plans for the character in 2014 with a solo Gambit film starring Channing Tatum, who was previously considered for X-Men Origins but couldn't commit due to scheduling conflicts with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. The project would languish in development hell for five years shortly before ultimately being scrapped by Disney shortly after their acquisition of Fox and Marvel Studios' reacquisition of the rights to the X-Men franchise.
While speaking with The Playlist to discuss his directorial debut Dog, writer Reid Carolin opened up about the cancelled Gambit movie. In looking at the story details for the film, Carolin revealed it would have been set in the character's home of New Orleans and compared it to a mutant Goodfellas story. See what Carolin shared below:
“We made this world in New Orleans that was a city of mutants that didn’t care about saving the world. They went there so they could use their powers to party and hook up, and their hands could fry the grease at MacDonald’s and whatever else and the hardest thing for them to do was to fall in love because they could read each other’s minds, or when they got into a fight, they could turn a table into a grenade and send their partner to the hospital or whatever. So, it was all this kind of low-level mutant fights and disagreements and we set in this world of the Mafia—almost kind of like a mutant ‘Goodfellas‘ in New Orleans.”
The cancelled Gambit movie story details come on the heels of Carolin and Tatum offering insight for the tone of the X-Men spinoff, which they described as an R-rated romantic superhero comedy. Those familiar with Goodfellas may find the notion of a gangster mutant film to be an exciting prospect, albeit wonder how it could work in a romance angle as the Martin Scorsese classic had very little of such. That being said, Ryan Reynolds' long-awaited Deadpool movie offered proof of how a brutal superhero genre effort can blend with that of a love story.
While audiences may be disappointed of the cancelled status for the Gambit movie, Tatum and Carolin have frequently expressed their interest in still returning to the character and project should they be given the opportunity. Marvel's X-Men plans may still be largely unknown for the time being, but with the studio partnering with Reynolds for Deadpool 3 and continuing to branch out their roster of new characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there may be a chance Kevin Feige elects to revive the project for another go. Only time will tell what the future holds for Gambit and Tatum in the MCU.
Source: The Playlist