Channing Tatum Was So Upset By Gambit Falling Apart That He Threw A Chair

By Adam Barnhardt

It's a tale nearly as old as time itself. Channing Tatum was going to appear as Gambit in his own self-titled project. Then capitalism happened, and the Walt Disney Company swallowed up the assets of 20th Century Fox. The Mouse quickly pared back on Fox's film slate, and Gambit was one of the unfortunate features removed from the production hopper. The news made Tatum so furious, the actor threw a chair across the room.

"I remember when Gambit was falling apart, Chan threw a chair across the room. I just remember thinking putting two years into that," Gambit helmer Reid Carolin recently told the Associated Press before Tatum quickly jumped in. "You put two years, and I had put in four and a half. I was developing it and producing it with a multitude of other directors for various reasons, some from the studio and some from me and they just never got done," the actor said.

He then added, "The amount of time. The amount of sweat and tears. Look, it was a gauntlet to run and we got so close and for it to not have happened, maybe you truly have to say, 'Maybe it wasn't meant to be.'"

In a separate interview earlier this year, Tatum admitted he hasn't watched any Marvel movies since Gambit was sent to the chopping block.

"Once Gambit went away, I was so traumatized," Tatum shared with Variety. "I shut off my Marvel machine. I haven't been able to see any of the movies. I loved that character. It was just too sad. It was like losing a friend because I was so ready to play him."

"We wanted to make a romantic comedy superhero movie," Tatum's producing partner Reid Carolin pointed out. "The thesis was the only thing harder than saving the world is making a relationship work."

Carolin added, "We were right on the one-yard line ... We had cast the film. We'd opened up a production office. We were on our way to shoot in New Orleans."

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