Before Taylor Kitsch and Channing Tatum, we almost had “Lost” actor Josh Holloway (“Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”) in the role of the first live-action Gambit in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (after failed attempts to get the character in the original trilogy). The actor is now detailing how the studio head at 20th Century Fox wanted to replace him with a younger actor, after he landed the Remy LeBeau part in the solo “X-Men” spinoff exploring Logan’s Weapon-X origins and starring franchise star Hugh Jackman.
Speaking with Collider on a panel for Fan Expo Portland, Holloway recalled how things went down after a positive audition with Jackman, “As a matter of fact, I read with Hugh Jackman and got the part. They hugged me, said, ‘You’re it! I’ll see you on set.’ By the end of that evening, the studio head had called and said, ‘We want someone 10 years younger.’ So they got Taylor Kitsch. Which I wonder if he could come back? Who knows, but thank you. I learned the card tricks and everything.”
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Holloway is referring to studio head Tom Rothman (now at Sony Pictures and was behind a string of messy “Spider-Man” spinoff films), who infamously took over the film’s production (tearing down sets and reshooting scenes) and nearly fired director Gavin Hood during a hectic shoot. Adding to the craziness, months before the film’s theatrical release, a workprint of “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” without completed visual effects leaked online and caused a lot of panic at the studio. Whatever the case, it was successful enough to lead to two more sequels with James Mangold‘s Japan-set “The Wolverine” and his follow-up neo-Western “Logan,” giving Wolverine a fantastic emotional “ending” with his ultimate death.
Most will remember that Tatum had been once developing a “Gambit” solo film reboot at Fox for years (a revolving door of directors and writers making it hard for the pic to get in front of cameras promptly) before the merger with Disney ultimately killed it, and he was brought back to the role by Marvel Studios with the Void scenes in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” with him officially set to reprise the beloved mutant in “Avengers: Doomsday” this December.
We don’t know for sure if Tatum will continue playing Gambit once the “X-Men” reboot comes around, as Kevin Feige and director Jake Schreier (“Thunderbolts*”) have indicated that one is going to be hard-reboot moving away from the Singerverse era actors by recasting with young talent.
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