‘Gambit’ gets delayed again; Production originally intended to begin this month in New Orleans

By Staff Writer | Mar 30, 2016 09:59 AM EDT

'Gambit' is an upcoming live-action adaptation of the X-Men character of the same name. The film's production gets pushed back following director Doug Liman's intention of working on 'The Wall' first. Production for the film was originally intended to begin this month in New Orleans.

According to Blastr, 20th Century Fox has pushed back the production date for the upcoming 'X-Men' spin-off film starring Channing Tatum as the trench coat wearing mutant Gambit. Production for the film was originally intended to begin this month in New Orleans with director Doug Liman. The film's script is currently undergoing rewrites with Reid Carolin, Tatum's producing partner who also wrote 'Magic Mike' and its sequel 'Magic Mike XXL'.

Liman reportedly announced his intentions of working on an upcoming psychological thriller under Amazon Studios entitled 'The Wall'. It will be the studios' first original movie and is described to be a small-scale production. Liman is expected to begin production on 'The Wall' sometime in the late spring to early summer months before continuing work on 'Gambit'.

According to Collider, the 50-year old filmmaker is best known for his work on several blockbuster action films such as 'Edge of Tomorrow', 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' and 'The Bourne Identity'. He is also set to direct the upcoming biographical drama-thriller film 'Mena', starring Tom Cruise in the lead role. It seems that Liman does have a busy schedule looming ahead.

Tatum, who rose to Hollywood fame in the 2006 dance film 'Step Up', will be portraying the film's titular character Gambit. According to Games Radar, Gambit's standalone film will be an expansion of the already saturated X-Men shared universe of films under Marvel. The superhero movie was originally set to premiere in theaters in the fall of this year but has been delayed a number of times.

Gambit, otherwise known as Remy LeBeau, is the thief of the mutant world. In the original comic books, he was trained to be the leader of the Thieves Guild but a chance encounter with Storm enabling his entrance to Professor X's X-Men.

The mutant is known for his numerous superhuman abilities such as molecular acceleration allowing him to tap into an object's potential energy and converting it into kinetic energy with explosive results as well as a superpower called hypnotic charm wherein he can compel his targets to agree with anything he desires. As an eventual horseman of Apocalypse, he gained the Deathseed powers, which included toxic transmutation, enhanced psychic resistance as well as the power of corruption.

'Gambit' is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film directed by Doug Liman. It stars Channing Tatum and Lea Seydoux as Gambit and Belladonna, respectively. It is intended as a spin-off to the highly popular 'X-Men' cinematic series.

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