Channing Tatum does not have a distinctive Southern accent when he speaks, so he definitely has a lot to work with for his upcoming standalone "Gambit" film, since his character Remy LeBeau is extremely proud of his Cajun ancestry.
"Gambit" producer Reid Carolin spoke with Screen Rant about all the work Tatum has put in on his character - aside from practicing his Southern accent, Tatum also has to master Gambit's card-throwing skills.
"I don't think he has it yet," Carolin admitted about Tatum's Southern accent. "Last night we were with my friend who I went to college with, this guy David Kwong who is an incredible magician and he was teaching Chan how to throw cards and do sight of hand and all that, so we're producing that and I'm mostly just writing stuff, both things are female-driven but they're totally different kinds of stories."
Carolin shared that they will start shooting "Gambit" sometime this October or November in New Orleans, and given the director and script they have to work with, Carolin is optimistic that they will be able to produce one great movie.
"Rupert Wyatt is our director, he's pretty cool," he said. "I think the script is really good. To be honest, I don't watch big movies for pleasure a lot, but this script convinced me that we should be making this movie."
Four directors actually passed up the chance to work with "Gambit" before Wyatt finally took it on. It was first given to Bennett Miller and Darren Aronofsky, followed by Gareth Evans and J.C. Chandor. However, all four of them turned down the project for reasons unknown.
So when "Gambit" finally nabbed Wyatt, Tatum was pretty excited to start working on the film. "We finally found someone that I really do believe wants to make 'Gambit,' it will be the second standalone character," the actor said in Reddit. "And I just really think because Gambit is not the most popular or the biggest hero, I think there's a really unique opportunity. Marvel's done a lot of great movies that have made a ridiculous amount of money, and it's always good to figure how to change the form."
The first X-Men character who had a standalone film is Australian star Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. The clawed and invincible superhero is arguably the X-Men's most popular mutant, and he is closely followed by the thieving and womanizing Gambit.
