20th Century Fox seems to be getting their mutant house in order with New Mutants, X-Men: Dark Phoenix, and Deadpool 2 all dated for next year. But one film they've had trouble getting charged up is Gambit, which unbelievably still has Channing Tatum attached to play the Cajun thief despite numerous delays and false starts. The most recent delay caused Fox to take the film off the schedule, and in the process they lost director Doug Liman, who moved on to Warner Bros.' Dark Universe aka Justice League Dark.
Speaking with We Got This Covered, Liman revealed why he left Gambit, and his overriding principle when it comes to choosing projects...
“I look for a personal connection to the movies I make and it may not be immediately obvious. You know, like what’s my connection to Jason Bourne? I have a deeply personal connection to that movie because it’s all about Iran-Contra and my father ran the investigations into Iran-Contra. In every story I have a personal connection. The Wall, you’d be like what could this filmmaker from New York possibly have in common with these two soldiers pinned down in Iraq? But The Wall is really about perseverance. It’s about picking yourself up and you just keep going and that’s something I have firsthand experience with. Not in war but in other aspects of life. With Gambit, I just never found that personal way in. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Liman is also working on the sequel to Edge of Tomorrow (which just got a new title), with his pal Tom Cruise, so there's the motivation for him there. It sounds like the whole Gambit situation played out for the best. If Liman isn't into it, we would've been able to tell by the finished product, and so it's better for him to stick to what inspires him. As for Gambit, who knows where it fits in Fox's plans now. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't.
