It’s a wide known fact that the “X-Men” spin-off film, “Gambit“, will be based on the fictional mutant of the same name. We also know that the film will see Channing Tatum in the titular role.
Nothing else was known about the movie, until recently Tatum revealed that the solo movie will tell the origin story of the kinetic energy-wielding mutant.
In an interview with Empire Magazine, the actor said:
(Screenwriter) Josh Zetumer just turned in the first draft of the script, and it’s killer. None of us were sure how he was going to deal with the X-Men world. But we’re going to be changing some of the tropes of these movies. It’s always about saving the world (Laughs), but maybe we’re going to shift things a little bit. There’s so many ways you can take (an origin story). You could do it like “Batman Begins“, or a different take and go the “Guardians of the Galaxy” route. All I can say is, I’m super excited.
The interview also revealed how much of a Gambit-enthusiast Tatum is:
I love Gambit… I grew up in the South; my father’s from Louisiana. We’d go to New Orleans and I heard all the dialects. It felt so different from the rest of America; it has its own ancient culture. So I identified with that. And he always felt the most real of the X-Men to me. He’s kind of a tortured soul and he’s not a good guy. But he’s not a bad guy, either. He walks his own path. And of course he plays cards and drinks and is a martial-arts badass!
In the comic books, Gambit was abandoned at birth due to his burning red eyes. After being kidnapped from the hospital ward by members of the New Orleans Thieves’ Guild, the orphan, who was referred to as “le diable blanc” – the white devil, grew up as a pickpocket on the streets. But when he was 10-year-old, he was adopted by Jean-Luc LeBeau, the then-patriarch of the Thieves’ Guild, after a failed attempt to steal from him.
His abnormal abilities began to manifest in his early teens. He possesses the ability to mentally create, control, and manipulate kinetic energy to his will. The extremely knowledgeable mutant is often seen with playing cards and a bō-staff, which is not out of the norm, considering the fact that he is an expert in card-throwing and hand-to-hand combat.
No director has signed on to helm the movie, but Tatum will be producing it alongside Lauren Shuler Donner, Simon Kinberg, and Reid Carolin. Tatum’s character was brought to life on the big screen by Taylor Kitsch, who portrayed the mutant in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine“.
The Gambit-origin film is set for cinematic release on 7th October 2016.
