Channing Tatum improvised a lot of the Deadpool & Wolverine moments where Gambit’s accent makes it nearly impossible to understand him.
Having attempted to get a Gambit movie off the ground for many years, Tatum appears as the fan-favorite X-Men character in Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, which is currently playing in United States theaters.
Speaking to Variety, director Shawn Levy discussed how they crafted Tatum’s unique accent in the MCU movie and how the actor improvised a number of his lines.
Shawn Levy Discusses Channing Tatum’s Gambit performance
“I am obsessed with Channing as Gambit in this movie,” Levy said. “What went into this, first and foremost, is a decade of Channing wanting to play this part and a decade of Channing almost playing this part at Fox. I know this personally because back in those years, I was one of 25 different directors who met with Channing about directing the Fox ‘Gambit’ movie, and yet it never quite happened. So when we decided to have Gambit in this movie, we knew it would be deeply gratifying for Channing.
“We had scripted a lot of those borderline nonsensical lines. We wrote them into the screenplay. But then Channing added a lot of Cajun and French flavor. To this day, there are some things he says — like when he sees Hugh drinking his liquor and he throws a charged-up card his way, he says something that sounds a lot like cooyain-zwah — where I don’t f***ing know the words. When Deadpool kept saying ‘That’s not a word. Who is your dialect coach … the Minions?’ that was very much all of us on set. We absolutely loved it.”
On X, Tatum expressed his gratitude toward Ryan Reynolds and Levy for allowing Gambit to be in the movie.
“I thought I had lost Gambit forever,” Tatum wrote. “But [Reynolds] fought for me and Gambit. I will owe him probably forever. Cause I’m not sure how I could ever do something that would be equal to what this has meant to me. I love ya buddy. [Levy] as well. Truly such a brilliant creator on every single level. All things happen for a reason. I’m so grateful to be in this movie. It’s a masterpiece in my opinion. And just pure bad ass joy. I was literally screaming in the theater. LFG!!”
Marvel‘s Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in United States theaters.
