The first attempt that 20th Century Fox made trying to bring the X-Men character Gambit into live-action movie turned out to be a major mistake. Gavin Hood's legendarily bad X-Men Origins: Wolverine featured the Ragin' Cajun played by Taylor Kitch, but the version of the character had two distinct problems: he couldn't be bothered to speak in his classic New Orleans accent, and he really had no purpose being in the story. The failure was so bad that we really haven't heard anything about the future of Gambit since... that is, until now.
As part of Empire's big X-Men: Days of Future Past exclusive special earlier this week, the magazine had the chance to sit down with franchise producer Lauren Schuler Donner, and according to Fandango, she revealed that one of her dreams for the X-Men franchise would be to do a Gambit movie with none other than A-list star-of-the-moment Channing Tatum. What's more, she has even thought about the potential scale of the film and what the story could be like, and she has apparently already discussed the possibility with the star.
"I'm dying to do a Gambit movie with Channing Tatum," Donner said. "That doesn't have to be a great big movie. It's a thief in New Orleans, it's a whole different story. He's on board, and I have to get the studio on board. How can anyone resist Channing? He's such a sweetheart."
This isn't the first time that Tatum's name has been linked to the role of Gambit. The actor was actually in the running for the part in X-Men: The Last Stand back in 2006 before it was ultimately cut from the script. What's more, Fandango says that Tatum was just talking about the mutant role on the press tour for White House Down last year. "I would like to play Gambit,"he told reporters at the time. "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."
Of course, when this would happen is a complete mystery. Fox has their X-Men-related plans set through 2016, with the release of X-Men: Apocalypse, but who knows what there could be beyond that? Maybe a Gambit movie? Maybe an X-Force movie? Maybe a Deadpool movie? Maybe a X-Men vs. Fantastic Four movie? The future is nothing if not unwritten.
One major question remains: would you like to see Channing Tatum get the chance to play Gambit? Answer our poll below and tell us what you think in the comments section.
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