It’s been over five months since Channing Tatum was officialy cast as Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit and there was still no director attached to the project – until now.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Rupert Wyatt is officially set to helm the upcoming solo X-Men film.
Wyatt is best known for his reboot film, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, which received solid reviews in 2011.
While Gambit was previously seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, this will be his first solo film.
Empire recently spoke to Tatum about his role and he had this to say about the kinetically charged mutant:
“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!”
The first draft of the script was also recently finished by Josh Zetumer and Tatum hinted at some changes:
“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 but. 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.”
We’re excited too! Gambit’s a character with a long, rich history who has always been been a fan-favorite. To say this film is highly anticipated is an understatement but it’s too early to tell what it will shape up to be.
Tatum’s a fun actor who deserves more credit than he receives and we think he’ll be great in the role.
Gambit is set to hit theaters on October 7, 2016.