Now that Channing Tatum is officially locked in to play the titular role of Rupert Wyatt's Gambit, the production can start looking at actresses who can play opposite the star as the female lead. According to new reports, the film has not yet zeroed in on exactly who should get the part, but it seems as though three frontrunners have emerged.
Deadline is reporting that testing is schedued to begin next week for the role of Belladonna Boudreaux a.k.a. Bella in Gambit, and that there is a trio of actresses who will be trying to prove that they have what it takes to get the role. So who are these lovely ladies? We break down the report below:
Let's start by discussing the actress that we've actually already heard whispers about. At the exact same time stories began to leak about Channing Tatum's possible departure from Gambit, it was also reported that French actress Lea Seydoux was being considered by 20th Century Fox for what was then an unknown female lead in the feature. As we noted at that time, she doesn't have an extensive Hollywood resume to this point in her career (instead best known for French films like Blue is the Warmest Color), but she does have some blockbuster experience thanks to her villainous turn in Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and her part in the upcoming James Bond adventure Spectre.
Weirdly enough, the second candidate on this is also an actress from the Mission: Impossible franchise - though she's been dropping our jaws more recently than Seydoux. Rebecca Ferguson has been receiving rave reviews for her badass performance in Christopher McQuarrie's Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, and now it looks as though the Swedish actress may find herself taking on her first comic book movie role. It's unknown at this time if she can pull off a French/Cajun accent... but the same is also true for the next name on the list.
Most of us were only first introduced to Australian actress Abbey Lee earlier this summer, thanks to her role as The Dag in George Miller's mind-blowing Mad Max: Fury Road, but already she is finding her name on shortlists for some of the biggest gigs in town. She's been very busy of late, starring in both Nicholas Winding-Refn's The Neon Demon, and Alex Proyas' Gods of Egypt, but the female lead in Gambit would unquestionably be her biggest role to date.
In the comics, Belladonna Boudreaux was a childhood friend of Gambit's, who was arranged to be married to him in an attempt to unite both the Thieves Guild (of which Gambit was a part), and the Assassins Guild (of which Belladonna was a part). Unfortunately, this whole situation doesn't work out too well, but I'll let the movie tell its own story when its released. Of these actresses, who would you like to see get the role in the Rupert Wyatt-directed feature? Hit the comments with your thoughts.
