Following director Rupert Wyatt‘s departure from “Gambit“, 20th Century Fox has finally found a new director who can helm the “X-Men” spin-off film.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, American film director Doug Liman is in talks to replace Wyatt to direct “Gambit”.
Liman is best known for helming “Swingers” and “The Bourne Identity”. He has also previously directed “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” and “Edge of Tomorrow”, a sci-fi action movie that starred Tom Cruise.
After a few rounds of meetings with Fox, Liman is in final negotiations to direct the “Gambit” solo film. He is replacing Wyatt, who was forced to leave the director’s chair due to a scheduling conflict that was resulted from a changing script.
Wyatt was first announced to be the director of “Gambit” earlier in June. Filming was supposed to begin in October, but the studio was forced to push the shooting date to January 2016 for the script to be re-worked.
As a result, Wyatt had to depart from the project due to scheduling conflict. He said in a statement:
I WAS VERY MUCH LOOKING FORWARD TO WORKING WITH MY FRIEND CHANNING AND THE TEAM AT FOX, BUT REGRETTABLY A PUSH IN THE START DATE NOW CONFLICTS WITH ANOTHER PROJECT.
“I thank them for the opportunity, and I know that Gambit will make a terrific film,” he added.
The “X-Men” project has had great difficulty getting off the ground. The star of the comic book movie, Channing Tatum, nearly dropped out of the film because the negotiations hitting a sensitive spot. However, sources told THR that such issue is “a normal part of top-level dealmaking”.
“Gambit” is set to be released on 7th October 2016, while “X-Men: Apocalypse” will be released on 27th May 2016.
Sources: Screen Rant, The Hollywood Reporter
