There's been a bit of a rough start for the anticipated adaptation of Gambit, the card-throwing Cajun mutant who occasionally partners with his brethren in the X-Men. Rupert Wyatt, who got a whole lot of well-due credit for helming Rise of the Planet of the Apes, one of the most pleasantly surprising blockbusters of this decade, was originally set to direct but had to drop out due to prior commitments that the film's consistently pushed start date put him in conflict with. The film has since wrangled a major filmmaker - Doug Liman - to come on board as director and has solid leads in Channing Tatum and Spectre standout Léa Seydoux, but we were still waiting on a start date.
Well, now we have a secured start-date for the latest Marvel adaptation from 20th Century Fox. According to WGNO, Gambit will begin filming in March and is currently holding casting calls for extras; as reports detail, the filming will be taking place largely in the Hollywood South area of New Orleans. This is exciting news for a film that might prove as stylishly entertaining as Ant-Man, especially considering the admirable work Liman did for the relatively thin premise of Edge of Tomorrow in 2014, but it renders the planned October 2016 release date a bit far-fetched. If filming begins at the beginning of March, that would give 20th Century Fox seven months to shoot, secure visual effects, cut, and market the film for it's current October 7th release date.
It's likely that the film's release will be pushed to some time in early 2017, or perhaps even a Christmas-time release, considering the new start date. For his part, Tatum seems to be getting into character, at least in the physical sense. He already has the physique for the character, though Gambit was drawn a bit taller and less-broad in the X-Men comics I read, but the haircut he sported at the Golden Globes last night have led many people to guess that this is a sneak peek as to what Tatum's Gambit might look like. You can take a look at Tatum from last night's broadcast below, with Jonah Hill wearing...a bear hat...or something:
