Edgar Wright Explains Why He Didn’t Direct Channing Tatum’s Gambit Movie

Edgar Wright was offered the chance to direct the Channing Tatum-starring Gambit movie; however, he ultimately turned the gig down.

Speaking with /Film, Dark Phoenix director Simon Kinberg said that he tried to get Wright to direct a number of different X-Men movies over the years.

“He’s one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a super great guy,” Kinberg said. “Obviously a cinephile… I’ve chased Edgar for ‘X-Men’ movies. I’ve chased him for literally every possible thing. We have talked about every movie.”

One project Kinberg specifically asked Wright to direct was the Gambit movie starring Channing Tatum, which ultimately never saw the light of day following several delays. Wright told /Film that he turned down the gig because he didn’t know much about Remy LeBeau.

“Gambit wasn’t a character I knew too well,” Wright said. “He appeared after my time reading Marvels — roughly 1985 — 1990 or so. [He] wasn’t one that I knew a lot about and hadn’t really read growing up, so it felt like it was someone else’s dream gig. Maybe he means more to people who watched the [animated] show? Which again, was after my time.”

What happened to Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie?

Tatum was initially attached to play Gambit in Fox’s X-Men films but was unavailable to film 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which is when the character was first introduced. Taylor Kitsch took over the role, but Fox decided to move ahead with a Gambit film starring Tatum after X-Men Origins: Wolverine was poorly received by most fans and critics.

A number of directors came and left the project over the years, including Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman, and Gore Verbinski. At one point, the movie had an official March 13, 2020, release date; however, Disney canceled the movie in 2019 after acquiring 21st Century Fox.