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| The rumors are confirmed. Channing Tatum to take on the role of Gambit. |
"It's Channing," Donner told TotalFilm. "He's a rogue, Channing. He's a rascal, just like Remy LeBeau, and he can handle the action, we all know that. And he's got a real good heart, I know him personally." She added, "He'll be great for Gambit, and he's a southerner, too…he understands that world, and you know Gambit loves New Orleans."
Rumors of Tatum taking on the role of the card-dealing Cajun have been milled about since September, when according to Slash Film, the 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike star claimed Gambit was the superhero he would most like to play during an interview promoting White House Down.
"I would like to play Gambit. Gambit's my favorite. I'm from New Orleans, around that area. My dad's from New Orleans, and I like to do a Cajun accent. I could do it for real. No knock on Taylor Kitsch, though, 'cause I actually like his Gambit, but I've always lived around Cajun people. [...] Gambit was always like the woman-loving, cigarette-smoking, drinking [guy]. He was the punk rock of all the superheroes. He's a thief. He kind of rode the line."
Created by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee in 1990, Gambit possesses the mutant ability to mentally generate and manipulate pure kinetic energy. He has been a fan favorite and one of the most famous members of the X-Men. Gambit was first portrayed on film by Taylor Kitsch, as Tatum mentioned, in the poorly received 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It will be interesting to see how this summer's Days of Future Past, which does not star Tatum, will juggle not only Gambit's previous film incarnation but also the myriad timeline continuity obstacles the film series has made for itself. The question remains whether Tatum's Gambit will be featured in X-Men: Apocalypse, the sequel to DOFP, or if his first appearance will be in his own solo film. My money's on the former, as a team-up film with other X-Men would allow 20th Century Fox to test the waters not only on the fans' approval of Channing Tatum but also on the wider movie-going public's acceptance of the Gambit character. Either way, one thing is for certain; Tatum better get to work on his Cajun accent, because we definitely don't want anything resembling this:
X-Men: Days of Future Past opens on May 23. X-Men: Apocalypse is set for a May 27, 2016 release.
What do you think of Fox's decision to cast Channing Tatum as Gambit? Do you think Magic Mike can handle the role? Are his claims of childhood affinity for the character genuine or is he just pandering to the fans? Sound off in the comments below!
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