In a twist of fate, Deadpool and Wolverine’s Shawn Levy was once in talks to direct the canceled Gambit movie – years before Channing Tatum finally made his debut as the card-dealing X-Men member.
“Eight, 10 years ago, I was one of probably 40 directors who met with Channing to direct the Gambit movie,” Levy revealed on the director’s commentary for Deadpool and Wolverine.
“Ultimately, no one got that job and the movie never quite happened. So, to give this moment to Channing and to realize instantly, ‘Oh wow, this guy has been readying for this his whole life.’… was a crazy magic trick.”
For his part, Tatum also addressed the previous discussions with Levy during the new Disney Plus ‘Assembled’ Deadpool and Wolverine making-of documentary.
“Shawn I’ve met a couple of times to possibly direct Gambit when I was attached to it at Fox,” Tatum said. “So they called me about this one, and I couldn’t even believe it. I thought they might have been teasing me or joking me.”
First announced back in 2014, the Gambit movie went through years of development hell before finally being canned in 2019.
“It got swallowed up into Disney by way of Marvel when they bought Fox, and ultimately I just think that the tone of the movie we wanted to make was very far from what they wanted to do – or, you know, maybe they’re waiting to see how they do it with us or without us,” Tatum told Vanity Fair last year.
Since then, of course, Gambit has made a revival on the big-screen – despite his Deadpool and Wolverine post-credits scene being cut for feeling too much like “traditional Marvel.”
Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds has even shouted from the rooftops about Tatum’s Gambit, suggesting that Marvel finally understands what they’ve got with his version of the character.
“I honestly don’t know what goes on behind closed doors in the bookkeeping sessions at Marvel, but I do know that they’re obsessed with him in that role,” Reynolds told Entertainment Weekly.
Deadpool & Wolverine is out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Limited Edition Steelbook.
For more, check out the upcoming Marvel movies headed your way soon. Then catch up on the story so far with the Marvel timeline and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.