Why I Have Faith In Channing Tatum As Gambit

It's funny, back when it was first announced that Channing Tatum was going to play Gambit my first reaction was "ehhhhhhhhhh, i don't know..." but then when it was rumoured that he was leaving i was legitimately upset by it, and was releaved when those rumours were dispelled. So why is that? Well thing is, when Tatum was first announced, not a whole lot of people were into it, people seem to be in this 2010 mindset of it all, you know, back when all of us saw him as nothing more than walking muscle and couldn't act to save his life. Since then, he's really gone on to prove himself. First he did the Jump Street movies and Magic Mike movies to prove he's a likeable actor; then he did Foxcatcher to prove he's a good actor and not to mention the enthusiasm and effort he's putting into just the pre-production of the movie goes to show how passionate he is in getting this film right. But the final seal for me on me having faith in him is how Fox handles the casting of their movies. Just look at the X-Men, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Ellen Page as Kitty, Nicholas Hoult as Beast, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, Hugh-Freaking-Jackman as Wolverine. They don't just go for household names, they go for the people who were right for these roles. Yes most of these people are big stars now, but these are the movies that made them stars (Patrick and Ian aside). Not to mention James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender leading the charge now, two oscar worthy actors who are committed to their roles.

Now you might be saying that Marvel always gets a great cast for their movies, just look at what the core Marvel films are doing. Yes the Marvel Cinematic Universe does have a large roster of A-Listers for their films but rarely do they have to put that much effort into it. You think Robert Redford was giving his A-Game for Winter Soldier? You think Jeff Bridges spent months prepping for Iron Man? SIDE NOTE: who even remembers that Jeff Bridges was in Iron Man? Now that's not to say these actors are giving bad performances, but they rarely have to go the extra mile. Fox on the other hand is always challenging their actors, putting the characters into new situations, making them emote and try something new. Just think about any of the big emotional scenes from X-Men, can you think of a time when any of the MCU actors had to put that much effort into their performances? Again, not to call them bad, most of them do a great job, but nothing out of their wheelhouse. This is going to be a new type of role for Tatum, but that's what Fox does best, challenging their actors and almost always getting results.

But the biggest actor in Tatum's favour is Ryan Reynolds, who's in a very similar situation as Tatum. They've both done a ton of crap in the past and at one point people thought they didn't think they could act worth a damn. Yet they both have so much passion and are putting so much effort into these roles, what's the difference? We've seen Reynolds as Deadpool, we know he's going to be great in the part. That's all Tatum needs, to show the world what he's got, and everything so far for him is promising. We've seen him act well in roles before, he's passionate about the role and like all the actors at Fox it's still going to be something new for him. That is why I have faith in Channing Tatum as Gambit.

-Danny