Channing Tatum: Gambit Accent Was Meant to Be ‘Unintelligible,’ Feared Asking Marvel for Costume

Channing Tatum finally got the chance to play the superhero Gambit in “Deadpool & Wolverine” after spending years trying to develop a solo Gambit film during Fox’s Marvel era. The role is so dear to him that he recently revealed in a Vanity Fair video interview that he felt too intimidated to ask if he could keep the Gambit costume once filming concluded. This is quite significant, given Tatum’s tradition of taking home a costume from every film he works on.

“I was too scared to ask,” Tatum said. “And usually, I steal the very last outfit that I’m in, in every movie, and I was too scared to do it on this one.”

In “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Gambit’s thick Cajun accent is a humorous element, with Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool even jokingly asking, “Who’s your dialect coach? The Minions?” Tatum explained to Vanity Fair that the accent was intentionally exaggerated and somewhat unintelligible as part of the joke.

“There was very little improv. The Cajun dialect is a very particular one,” Tatum separately 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 it, but I’ve never done it. There are certain little isms that are very Cajun-y, but we actually intended it to be somewhat unintelligible. That was sort of the joke.”

“[Ryan would] come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want to know anything that you’re saying on this [take],’ so I just dialed it all the way up,” Tatum added. “And then other ones he’s like, ‘All right, I’ve got to understand what you’re saying now.’”

Once “Deadpool & Wolverine” broke records at the box office during its opening weekend, Tatum took to social media to express his emotions about finally portraying Gambit on the big screen.

“I thought I had lost Gambit forever. But [Reynolds] fought for me and Gambit,” he wrote. “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… I’m so grateful to be in this movie. It’s a masterpiece in my opinion. And just pure badass joy. I was literally screaming in the theater.”

In a later interview with Variety, Tatum admitted he is still very much interested in pursuing a standalone Gambit movie. “I’ve been saying I want it for the last 10 years. It’s in Bob Iger and Kevin Feige’s hands. I pray to God,” he added.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is currently playing in theaters nationwide.

Source: Vanity Fair, Access Hollywood, Variety