Channing Tatum Still Seems Really Bummed He Couldn't Get a 'Gambit' Movie Made

In a new Variety cover story, Channing Tatum shares that he refuses to watch Marvel Films after his film Gambit was scrapped in 2016.

Channing Tatum is holding a grudge against Marvel Studios. In a new Variety cover story, the actor talked about his first co-directed feature Dog and attempting to develop a now-scrapped film about the X-Men mutant character Gambit.

Originally, the Gambit film was set to be backed by Twentieth Century Fox in 2016 with Tatum's co-producer Reid Carolin. The two also had a proposition to be co-direct the film, but were dissuaded by the company. “The studio really didn’t want us to direct it,” Tatum said. “They wanted anybody but us, essentially, because we had never directed anything.”

Tatum and Carolin spent four years on the script, which the actor still defends. “They would call him 'flamboyant’ in his description,” Tatum said. “I wouldn’t — he was just the coolest person. He could pull anything off. Most superheroes, their outfits are utilitarian. Batman’s got his belt. Gambit’s like, ‘No, this shit’s just fly, bro! This shit walked down the Paris runway last year.’ He’s just wearing the stuff that’s so dope because he loves fashion.”

Gambit would also have bore resemblance to fellow superhero film Deadpool, also being rated R. “We wanted to make a romantic comedy superhero movie,” Carolin said. “The thesis was the only thing harder than saving the world is making a relationship work."

But in 2019, Disney merged with Fox and with the company restructuring, so was Gambit. While Tatum hopes the corporation can reconsider their decision, he says that he's avoidant of Marvel films.

“Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized,” Tatum said. “I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven’t been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him.”