It seems 20th Century Fox is in the process of drafting up a director shortlist for Gambit, the long-gestating X-Men spinoff that still has Channing Tatum attached to star.
Word comes by way of Entertainment Weekly, who spoke to über-producer and all-around franchise mainstay Simon Kinberg about Dark Phoenix, Deadpool 2 and the future of Gambit, which is seemingly brighter than we’ve been led to believe.
Now that a “really great script” is in place, Fox is purportedly sending out the feelers as the search for a new director begins. Rupert Wyatt and Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow 2) were both attached to helm the mutant spinoff at various stages, before Gore Verbinski became the third filmmaker to walk away from the troubled solo flick back in January, leaving the Powers That Be with little choice but to place Gambit on ice.
However, it seems 20th Century Fox is ready to jump-start the project once more, as Kinberg tells EW:
We have a really great script for that, and we’ve met with a bunch of directors in the last couple of weeks.
Pitched as a supercharged heist movie – think Ocean’s Eleven…with mutants – Gambit has walked the long and rocky road to release, but it seems Channing Tatum and Co. aren’t about to throw the towel in just yet.
The actor’s expected to take point as the devilish Remy LaBeau in 2019 (or 2020, perhaps?) where he’ll be joined by Lizzy Caplan (Masters of Sex), who recently clinched Gambit‘s female lead. At the time of casting, 20th Century Fox stopped short of mentioning specifics, though budding fans have already linked Caplan’s addition with the seemingly vacant role of Bella Donna. Watch this space for more.
Gambit is currently tethered to June 7th, 2019, though we fully expect that release date to change once Fox locates the film’s fourth (and surely final?) director.
