Summary
Edgar Wright famously left Marvel Studios’Ant-Manover creative differences. However, the acclaimed filmmaker confirmed he also turned down the offer to direct a different Marvel movie: Channing Tatum’s Gambit movie.
WhilePeyton Reed ended up directingAnt-Man, the concept was first developed and written by Wright, who had been tasked with developing the film before the MCU even existed, getting the job in April of 2006, and getting to work alongside Joe Cornish. While creative differences led to Wright walking away from the chance to direct, he did serve as an executive producer on the project, which was a success long in the making.
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While many fans know of Wright’s involvement withAnt-Man, fewer still know that he almost helmed a film centered around the mutant Gambit, a popular character in X-Men comics who has even gotten his ownFortnightskin alongside fellowX-Mencharacter Rogue. In a recent interview withSlashFilm, Wright confirmed that Simon Kinberg offered him the job, and also explained his reasoning for not taking it on. “Gambit wasn’t a character I knew too well," Wright told me. “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.”
TheunproducedGambitproject has a long history. While Darren Aronofsky, J.C. Chandor, Bennett Miller, and Gareth Evans were all considered to direct the potential superhero flick, Kinberg was dead set on getting Wright in the filmmaker’s chair. “He’s one of my favorite directors of all time and one of my favorite people, just a super great guy,” Kinberg said of Wright. “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.” Kinberg’s enthusiasm makes it easy to see his contemporary in the role, had the film ever come to production.
Unfortunately, even if the Gambit project had gone forward, Wright wouldn’t have taken the gig. While fans will be disappointed that the film didn’t get made, none will be more so than the proposed star of the film, withTatum admitting that he can’t watch Marvel filmsas a result of the canceled project, which would have seen him in the lead role as Gambit. The star reportedly committed to the part and intended to make it a serious, big-budget affair with the right creatives behind it. While the time has long since passed, with the MCU heading towards integrating mutants into the shared universe, it might not be too late for the star to get his wish.
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