Doug Liman, who was previously confirmed to be the director of the standalone "Gambit" film, has spoken up about his departure from the project.
Although Liman chose to depart from the film project in August last year, it is only now that he chose to speak up about the project. In an interview with LRM, he confessed that his decision to leave the project was not because he became tied to another project, as was previously said, but because he was not a fan of the script. "I'm all about the script, and I just wasn't feeling it," he admitted.
He continued, "I've gotta connect to the script. On 'Bourne Identity,' Matt Damon was always referring to himself as a 'script whore,' and I'm with Matt on that. It's like, you feel the script, that's everything. We make movies because we want to tell great stories."
With Liman stepping away from the project, it becomes unclear once again if the "Gambit" project will push through. The last time that the project was confirmed to push through was in February this year, when "X-Men" producer Simon Kinberg confirmed on ComicBook that the film was still in active development. He also said that Channing Tatum, who will play the titular character, is as determined to portray the mutant correctly as Ryan Reynolds is for Deadpool and Hugh Jackman for Wolverine.
Much like the "Wolverine" movies, the "Gambit" film is intended to focus on Remy LeBeau, code-named Gambit, the X-Men mutant who has the power to blow things up by simply touching them. The standalone movie has hit several delays. Originally intended for release in October 2016, the film has encountered several setbacks with even Tatum's involvement in the project see-sawing, despite the fact that he is also the film's producer.
Gambit was only portrayed once on-screen. He was played by Taylor Kitsch in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine." However, his name appeared in the database of mutants on "X2."
