Channing Tatum was heartbroken over the cancellation of his X-Men movie Gambit

Tatum was so passionate about the script he had written with Carolin, he was willing to relinquish the director role

In this week’s Variety cover story, Channing Tatum discusses his journey to co-directing his first movie, “Dog,” alongside his longtime producing partner Reid Carolin.

Before coming up with the idea for the MGM indie "Dog" (which premieres on Feb. 18), Tatum and Carolin spent four years developing "Gambit," a risqué stand-alone movie based on the "X-Men" mutant.

The superhero project was initiated at Twentieth Century Fox in 2016, with Tatum and Carolin campaigning to co-direct.

“The studio really didn’t want us to direct it,” Tatum says.

“They wanted anybody but us, essentially, because we had never directed anything.”

Tatum was so passionate about the script he had written with Carolin that he was willing to relinquish the director role. Reflecting on it now, Tatum still defends the character as if he were real.

“They would call him ‘flamboyant’ in his description,” Tatum says. 

“I wouldn’t — he was just the coolest person. He could pull anything off. Most superheroes, their outfits are utilitarian. Batman’s got his belt. Gambit’s like, ‘No, this shit’s just fly, bro! This shit walked down the Paris runway last year.’ He’s just wearing the stuff that’s so dope because he loves fashion.”

Their take on "Gambit" had a similar tone to "Deadpool" and would have been rated R. "We wanted to create a romantic comedy superhero movie," Carolin explains. 

“The thesis was the only thing harder than saving the world is making a relationship work.”

Carolin highlights how close they came to making the movie. “We were right on the one-yard line,” he says. 

“We had cast the film. We’d opened up a production office. We were on our way to shoot in New Orleans.”

But after Disney merged with Fox, “Gambit” became a casualty of the corporate takeover in 2019. “Disney had just gotten the ‘X-Men’ from Fox,” Carolin explains. “I think they needed to redesign the ‘X-Men’ from the ground up.”

Tatum was heartbroken when the movie collapsed. “Once ‘Gambit’ went away, I was so traumatized,” Tatum says, revealing that he stopped watching the Avengers films. 

“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.”

“I wish they would reconsider, because it’s a pretty great project,” Carolin says. “Maybe someday.”

Tatum says he would still love to play the mutant if given the opportunity: “Uh, yeah, I would love to play Gambit. I don’t think we should direct it. I think that was hubris on our part.”