Doug Liman’s ‘Gambit’ Delayed, Director In Negotiations For ‘The Wall’ From Amazon Studios

Fox’s solo Gambit movie has been delayed once again, with director Doug Liman overseeing a complete rewrite of the script, reports The Wrap. This has opened up a window for Liman to direct The Wall for Amazon Studios, the production for Gambit has been pushed to late 2016.

Those who have been looking forward to seeing Channing Tatum wear the trademark trenchcoat will have to wait a while longer before they can finally see the film. Fox’s Gambit project did not start off well to begin with, since there were plenty of comic book fans who weren’t interested in Tatum playing the mutant known as Remy Etienne LeBeau, a.k.a. Gambit.

The Wall was the first spec script that was purchased by Amazon. It was even voted onto the Black List in 2014. Written by Dwain Worrell, The Wall tells the story of a sniper and his spotter who are trapped, taking cover, and evading a legendary sniper. It’s a low-budget film, and Doug Liman is looking for a spring/summer production date.Liman will then resume work on Gambit in the fall. But what caused the halt in the Gambit production to begin with?

Channing Tatum has his GAMBIT hair ready! #GoldenGlobes pic.twitter.com/JxrF5Glpb0

— ComicBook NOW! (@ComicBookNOW) January 11, 2016

This isn’t the first time production on this X-Men spinoff has been delayed. Apparently, there are currently some issues with the script, and it is being rewritten. Channing Tatum’s producing partner, Reid Carolin, is the one doing the rewrites, and he has also worked on both Magic Mike movies. So this is clearly somebody who has a working relationship with Tatum, which seems like a reasonable enough pick for reworking the screenplay.

Doug Liman was initially brought on to helm the superhero spin-off in November of last year, following Rupert Wyatt’s (Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes) departure. Wyatt reportedly ran into creative differences with the studio. Channing Tatum has been attached to the project since the very beginning, which was May 2015, and the actor was officially confirmed last October.

X-Men producer Simon Kinberg told Collider in November last year that the script still needed work and compared the tone of the project to Deadpool — another stand alone film in the X-Men cinematic universe.

“I mean Deadpool obviously has a very different, almost antithetical tone to the mainline X-Men movies. The X-Men movies are dramatic and almost operatic, whereas Deadpool is irreverent and hysterical and sort of a dirty R-rated comedy in many ways. And Gambit will have its own different flavor and tone to it, will be more of like a heist movie and a sexy thriller in a way.”

Perhaps the extreme success of Deadpool has brought on the idea of these current rewrites for the film, or maybe the film is being reworked to fit better within this X-Men universe. In January, it was announced that production on Gambit was going to begin this month in New Orleans. And aside from Channing Tatum as Remy/Gambit, the only other actor rumored to be attached to the project is Léa Seydoux (Spectre). However, Heroic Hollywood claims that Seydoux may be cut from the cast, with Liman starting the casting process from scratch – except for Channing Tatum, of course.

“Channing is a big fan of the comic, so the accent, the attitude, the costume in many ways, will be in the film,” Kinberg added. “And he’s a character with a complex backstory – we’re playing him as a thief in the film, and that’s a big part of the story.”

'GAMBIT' Is Put On The Backburner, Replaced with THE WALL https://t.co/evM45xLp83 #Gambit pic.twitter.com/hgtR8AhPp6

— The GenreVerse Podcast Network (@TheGenreVerse) March 30, 2016

As it stands right now, Gambit does not have a release date. Depending on production schedules, the spinoff could still be in theaters sometime late next year in 2017. Are you excited for this Gambit project?

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]