GAMBIT Co-Writer Describes The Scrapped X-MEN Spinoff As "A Mutant Goodfellas In New Orleans"

GAMBIT Co-Writer Describes The Scrapped X-MEN Spinoff As "A Mutant Goodfellas In New Orleans"

We've already heard from Channing Tatum on the defunct Gambit movie, and co-writer Reid Carolin has now weighed in. According to him, they were only months away from shooting when Disney pulled the plug.

By MarkCassidy - Feb 08, 2022 02:02 PM EST
Filed Under: Gambit

Many movies - particular in the comic book/superhero genre - enter the early stages of development only to fall by the wayside before production can begin, but it sounds like Gambit came closer than most to becoming a reality.

Channing Tatum, who was attached to play the card-flinging Cajun of the title, has previously revealed that 20th Century Fox was hesitant to move forward because the higher-ups didn't want the actor and his filmmaking partner Reid Carolin to helm the movie, and the Dog co-director has now weighed in with some new details of his own.

According to Carolin, they worked on “multiple versions of the script and finally found the one that I think that was going to be really awesome,” and were just "a few months away from shooting when ultimately Disney scrapped it."

“I think it played really well in the Deadpool universe at Fox, Emma Watts had really championed it at Fox,” he tells The Playlist. “They made Deadpool at Fox, and they understood that when you went a little punk rock with these characters you could pop some wheelies and really attract an audience.”

Carolin didn't elaborate on why Disney ultimately decided to ditch the film so late in the game, but he did share some intriguing new plot details, describing the movie as "a mutant Goodfellas."

“We made this world in New Orleans that was a city of mutants that didn’t care about saving the world,” he explained. “They went there so they could use their powers to party and hook up, and their hands could fry the grease at MacDonald’s and whatever else, and the hardest thing for them to do was to fall in love because they could read each other’s minds. Or when they got into a fight, they could turn a table into a grenade and send their partner to the hospital or whatever. So, it was all this kind of low-level mutant fights and disagreements and we set in this world of the Mafia—almost kind of like a mutant Goodfellas in New Orleans.”

It certainly sounds like an interesting premise, and should Marvel Studios ever hope to develop a solo outing for Gambit (it seems highly unlikely, but you never know!), Carolin hopes they'll give him and Tatum a call.

"I hold out hope that maybe someday it’ll come back," he admitted. "Channing is perfect for the role, and as long as they keep making Deadpool a character, he’ll need a world to play in and… if they want some more characters like that, I think [they should] come our way.”

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bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 2/8/2022, 2:45 PM
I think Tatum and Reynolds could be a really fun combo, so I kinda wish we'd get to see that. His Gambit could really fill the world of Reynolds' Deadpool well
GordonRamsay
GordonRamsay - 5/29/2022, 9:30 AM
@bkmeijer2 -

Maybe we can still have Tatum as Gambit in the 3rd Deadpool.
Unites
Unites - 2/8/2022, 2:45 PM
I thought I had the screenplay for this, but can't find it anywhere unfortunately.
Superspecialawesomeguy
Superspecialawesomeguy - 2/8/2022, 2:53 PM
Sounds like it would've been a cool movie tbh.

TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 2/8/2022, 2:56 PM
Uh merr merr veenul gyehawt. AhYEE! Welcome bat folts! Today… We cooktin some glivvah shamps. Rowt skiddly oh dote! Wit dees shampeeyowns, y’all gone be right ma dude. Choot em Clint!

Honestly being from New Orleans I think it would be refreshing to actually have a New Orleans accent, like Giovanni Ribisi on Contraband, ugly lil dude can’t play em doe, or stick to Cajun, weird thing about that, New Orleans sounds like looong Island, like maybe Cat Island or Deer island one o dem longah barriuh islands, saw a cayman th’oth day, Wesley say dat ain’t no cayman thass a baby gaytuh. I look like a gaytuh tour guide or some? Baybehhh, dats a cayman.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 2/8/2022, 3:26 PM
@TheWalkingCuban - that wasn’t English
TheWalkingCuban
TheWalkingCuban - 2/8/2022, 3:46 PM
@ShimmyShimmyYA - sure weren’t coudin
ModHaterSLADE
ModHaterSLADE - 2/8/2022, 2:57 PM
A movie examining the Thief's Guild and Gambit's conflict with the Assassin's Guild could've been pretty interesting.
JesseCuster
JesseCuster - 2/8/2022, 2:57 PM
I like the basic idea but the casting and the talent behind it leaves much to be desired, so I'm honestly glad that this didn't come to fruition.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 2/8/2022, 2:58 PM
Sounds cool but the problem is the casting and talent behind it
TheLobster
TheLobster - 2/8/2022, 2:58 PM
I would have been down to watch this. After all the Fox-Men films, I can handle disappointment when it comes to Mutants so why not see how this would have shaken out ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
AmazingFILMporg
AmazingFILMporg - 2/8/2022, 3:01 PM
Channing taint-yum would have killed this role. His charismatic swagger and his flirty nature would have been perfect.




But it would have lived or died by the directing and writing💁
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 2/8/2022, 3:12 PM
Tatum would've made a great Gambit. Dude seemed passionate as [frick] for it, he's not super versatile but he could've pulled it off.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/8/2022, 3:17 PM
@regularmovieguy - Supposedly he lived in New Orleans for a time and can do a decent Cajun accent. I mean, I believe he's the one that claimed that, but still.
ElricReturns
ElricReturns - 2/8/2022, 3:16 PM
I'll admit, it sounds interesting, but I absolutely never would have ever bought him as actually being Gambit.
ElricReturns
ElricReturns - 2/8/2022, 3:21 PM
I honestly feel Shazam is about the only superhero I could believe him as. I could see him playing a brash kid transformed into a hulking buff hero who's cocky and arrogant and ignorant. I wouldn't have exactly been the classic Shazam like say Zachary Levi nailed, but I could see Tatum finding a rhythm in that role doing his take.

Other than that, I just see Channing Tatum playing himself in movies. Even much better films like Foxcatcher, he gave a phenomenal performance but I still just saw Channing Tatum delivering a solid performance, not his character.
OmegaBlack13
OmegaBlack13 - 2/8/2022, 3:37 PM
@ElricReturns - I don’t think Levi really did classic Shazam, so Tatum would’ve just done that dial up to 11, which maybe wouldn’t have been great.
NicolausCopernicus
NicolausCopernicus - 2/8/2022, 3:23 PM
Hey, If they´re going to re-intoduce the X-Men in the MCU at some point, why not put gambit on the team? A different roast would help to differentiate it from the Fox-verse.
And Tatum its still a pretty big name, so why not? This could eventually happen. Perhaps as a Dinsey+ show, so they can go a little more mature with it
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/8/2022, 3:35 PM
@NicolausCopernicus - If I had my way, this is how Gambit would be in the MCU:

He's part of the X-Men, and he's got a shady past. Everyone knows he used to be a thief, but not much else. He's a bit stand-offish and people question what he's hiding about his past, but he's also 100% loyal to the team and has proven it over and over again. No one questions his loyalty, only what he's hiding.

When Sinister is finally revealed as a villain in the X-Men movies, we learn that Gambit lead Sinister's Marauders on a mission back in the day that where a bunch of innocent mutants were killed. (In the comics this would have been the Mutant Massacre, but since I doubt they'll introduce Morlocks, it can just be regular innocent mutants.)

This throws the X-Men's trust of Gambit out the window and he ends up leaving the team.

The Gambit movie should be a prequel showing Gambit living in New Orleans with the Thieves and Assassin's guilds at war. His powers back then are extremely strong, but very uncontrollable. Sinister seeks out Gambit after recognizing his power and makes a deal with him. Sinister fixes his powers and makes them much more controllable so he can get an edge on the Assassin's Guild. But in return, Gambit has to do complete an unknown task for Sinister at a later date. (We already know what that task was and the outcome of it because of the main X-Men movies)

Gambit helps defeat the Assassin's guild, with his newly found control over his powers.

Then, in a future X-Men movie, Gambit shows up to help the X-Men defeat Sinister and is welcomed back to the team after proving that he made a horrible mistake in his past, but that the X-Men can trust him.
OmegaBlack13
OmegaBlack13 - 2/8/2022, 3:42 PM
A thing I’m gonna miss about Fox having these characters is the possibility of doing cool stuff like this. Sure I’m excited to see what Marvel does with the X-Men, but even if it’s just stuff ripped from the comics I’ll always partially wish we could see more of filmmakers being expired by certain stuff then going off in their own direction.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 2/8/2022, 3:50 PM
@OmegaBlack13 - Personally I want the X-Men in the MCU to be in their own corner, doing their own thing. They can establish that they are allies with the Avengers at some point, but the X-Men shouldn't be involved in Avengers stuff, outside of the big event movies like Secret Wars or Infinity Gauntlet level stuff.

The X-Men should get their own phases of movies, much like the general MCU. Only it should be all X-Men/mutant related stuff.
Highflyer
Highflyer - 2/8/2022, 3:51 PM
It always hurts when a project with potential gets scrapped. If we're never going to see projects like this or Ben Affleck's Batman, I wish we could at least read the scripts. It's heartbreaking to think they're just going to collect dust for nobody to read.
mrbaconsock
mrbaconsock - 2/8/2022, 5:45 PM
This concept doesn't sound half bad. Still don't think Tatum is the best choice, but yeah, I'd love to see Marvel Studios properly adapt my Cajun boy to the big screen eventually

ThouBear8
ThouBear8 - 2/8/2022, 6:39 PM
With all due respect, Channing Tatum is NOT perfect for the part. He seems like a nice guy, I like some of his work, & I certainly admire his passion for the part, but I never thought he was remotely a good fit.

He's too bulky, he's too old, & he has a pretty limited range in terms of what he's able to do as an actor. I'm sorry for him that it didn't work out, but I'm ultimately relieved it never happened. Hopefully Marvel Studios will do the character justice in due time.
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