Channing Tatum has been talking about a lot of movies recently. On the promotional trail for Magic Mike XXL, he updated on his still-gestating Ghostbusters reboot, and has now teased his vision for his upcoming Gambit movie, which is due to hit screens in 2016. While Taylor Kitsch played the role in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 20th Century Fox replaced him with Tatum for the Gambit solo film – which will be written by Joshua Zetumer, from a treatment by character creator Chris Claremont. Speaking to Comic Book Resources, Tatum revealed that he is working closely with director Rupert Wyatt to realize a particular version of the story.
“We’re so early in it. I really have some things in mind, but who knows – it’s pretty fluid at this point. I do believe that [director] Rupert [Wyatt] and I have the exact same vision of what we want to do. We want it to be different. I think Gambit is a really specific sort of character to not do some of these other things that some of the other superheroes kind of have to do. It is who they are. I think his character lends itself to doing something maybe slightly different.”
It is teases such as these that make this Gambit solo movie such an exciting prospect. At a time when superhero movies are seemingly ten-a-penny, it is refreshing to hear a filmmaker state that they are setting out to do something fresh and unusual. This is vitally important for a movie about a superhero character that is a card-throwing mutant former thief with a notable gambling habit and a tendency to turn energy into his own personal weapon. As for the setting of the movie, Tatum continues to play his Gambit cards close to his chest.
“Who knows? You never know what time [period] it’s going to be set in.”
Given his comments about the vision for the film shared by Tatum and Wyatt, and given that it is supposed to be ready for release in 2016, I would suggest that they probably have a good idea of what time period it will be set in. Personally, I’m hoping for the 1970s, because Gambit in that era would be a perfect fit for his big, solo introduction.
