Following a couple days of rocky negotiations, Channing Tatum has officially agreed to star in Fox’s Gambit.
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Update: The deal is finished! THR reported Saturday morning that Tatum has signed on the dotted line to star as Gambit in the upcoming X-Men spinoff.
One of the tougher areas to negotiate was Tatum’s long-term role in the X-Men film series. “Fox sees Tatum’s Gambit, a mutant who harnesses kinetic energy, as one of the anchor characters of the X-universe, akin to Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, someone who would anchor his own movies and appear in numerous others,” writes THR. “It’s a commitment that could theoretically last more than a decade.”
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Original story (July 29): Despite appearing at San Diego Comic-Con earlier this month, Channing Tatum might be exiting Rupert Wyatt’s superhero movie Gambit.
The planned X-Men spinoff Gambit has run into trouble… again.
To the surprise of everyone who’s been following the project over the past few years, it looks like the movie’s star, Channing Tatum, is looking to exit the movie, only a year out from its scheduled release date.
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The Wrap quotes a source close to the project as saying that, “Something is up” with Tatum and his reps, although negotiations with 20th Century Fox are still ongoing.
Not only is Tatum set to star as the title character, but he’s actually been the driving force behind the project since its conception: Tatum and his partner Reid Carolin are producing the movie with Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg, and he has been searching high and low for a director who shares his obvious passion for the character.
Until recently, Tatum had very little luck finding a director. Both Bennett Miller an Darren Aronofsky are said to have passed on the project, leaving Tatum scrambling to find a suitable director in time to make Gambit‘s October 2016 release date.
It’s definitely worrying that Tatum is suddenly looking to back out of the movie now, only a month after Rupert Wyatt signed on to helm.
Related: Rupert Wyatt signs on to direct X-Men film Gambit with Channing Tatum
The Gambit character was introduced to the X-Men Cinematic Universe in the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, then played by Taylor Kitsch.
Earlier this month, Channing Tatum was present at the 20th Century Fox panel at San Diego Comic-Con to promote his character, and seemed, at the time, super stoked about the whole thing.
We’ll keep you updated as the situation develops!