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The Hollywood Reporter

Channing Tatum Talks ‘Gambit’ and “Changing Some of the Tropes of These Movies”

May 26, 2015

By Graeme McMillan

While trailers for Magic Mike XXL ably demonstrate his near-superhuman physique, Channing Tatum‘s thoughts are turning toward another character with true comic book origins: Gambit, the X-Man he’ll be playing in an X-Men spinoff movie next year.

“Josh Zetumer just turned in the first draft of the script, and it’s killer,” he told Empire magazine (Zetumer’s script is based on a treatment from longtime X-Men comic book writer — and Gambit co-creator — Chris Claremont). “None of us were sure how he was going to deal with the X-Men world. But we’re going to be changing some of the tropes of these movies. It’s always about saving the world (laughs), but maybe we’re going to shift things a little bit.”

Tatum confirmed that the movie will be an origin story, but teased that there are “so many ways” such a story could be handled. “You could do it like Batman Begins, or a different take and go the Guardians of the Galaxy route,” he said. “All I can say is, I’m super excited.”

Of course, Tatum has reason to be excited; the character has long been a favorite of his. “He always felt the most real of the X-Men to me,” he explained, calling Gambit “kind of a tortured soul and […] not a good guy. But he’s not a bad guy, either. He walks his own path. And of course he plays cards and drinks and is a martial-arts badass.”

Gambit is scheduled for release October 2016