Channing Tatum finally got the chance to play the superhero Gambit in “Deadpool & Wolverine” after spending years trying and failing to develop a Gambit movie during Fox’s Marvel era. The role is so sacred to him that he recently said in a video interview with Vanity Fair that he was too scared to ask to take Gambit’s costume home with him after filming. Tatum always takes a costume home from the set, but not Gambit’s.
“I was too scared to ask for it,” Tatum said. “I usually steal the last costume I wear in every movie, and I was too scared to do that on this one.”
Gambit's thick Cajun accent was a running joke in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” with Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool at one point asking, “Who's your dialect coach? Minions?” Tatum told Vanity Fair that the criticism of the accent isn't entirely fair because it was intentional.
“There was very little improvisation. Cajun is a very specific dialect,” Tatum told Access Hollywood. “I grew up in Mississippi and my dad is from New Orleans. So it’s one of those things that I grew up around, but I never did it. There are some little terms that are very Cajun, but we actually meant them to be a little bit incomprehensible. It was kind of a joke.”
“[Ryan would] He came to say, “I don't want to know anything you say about this.” [take]”I turned it up all the way,” Tatum added. “And then other times he said, 'OK, I need to understand what you're saying now.'”
After “Deadpool & Wolverine” broke box office records during its opening weekend, Tatum took to social media to share an emotional statement about finally getting the chance to play Gambit on the big screen.
“I thought I lost Gambit forever. But [Reynolds] “He fought for me and for Gambit,” he wrote. “I will probably be forever indebted to him. Because I’m not sure how I can ever do anything that equals what this means to me. I love you, my friend… I’m so grateful to be in this movie. It’s a masterpiece in my opinion. And just pure joy. I was literally screaming in the theater.”
In a later interview with diverseTatum admitted he's still interested in making a standalone Gambit movie, adding, “I've been saying I want to do it for 10 years. It's in Bob Iger's and Kevin Feige's hands. I pray to God.”
Watch Tatum's full interview with Vanity Fair in the video below. “Deadpool & Wolverine” is now showing in theaters nationwide.
