Doug Liman in Final Negotiations to Direct 'Gambit'

It was a little under four weeks ago that Doug Liman's name popped up as a possibility to direct Fox's X-Men spinoff, Gambit, starring Channing Tatum.

Word was that Tatum himself was pursuing the Edge of Tomorrow director to helm the project, which had recently lost it's initial director, Rupert Wyatt (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes).

At the time, I cited how I thought it was unlikely Liman would take the gig for two major reasons:

1) The director's reportedly strenuous filming style as he likes to change scenes around from what's written in the script, sometimes completely (which studios obviously aren't a fan of when you're working with their money). 2) The film's less than a one year release date of October 7th, 2016, a daunting task for any filmmaker.

Well, seems I thought wrong on this as Liman is now in 'final negotiations' to helm the project after taking several meetings with execs at Fox, the most recent being Thursday.

While there's no official announcement (yet), I'm willing to bet one of the concessions to get Liman onboard was to push the fim's release date to 2017, specifically June 9th, 2017, a date which Fox currently has Fantastic Four 2 slated for. I had made the point previously that in order to not only deliver a good movie but give any director - Liman or not - a chance to breathe during production, that less than one year to release had to be changed. Fantastic Four was one of the biggest failures - both critically and commercially - for any comic book film, ever. There's no way that thing gets a sequel, let alone one that releases just two year's after the first. Therefore, that opens up the date for Gambit. Fox already has X-Men: Apocalypse opening next May, they don't need a spin-off opening less than six months later.

Overall though, it's pretty exciting to see Liman coming onboard. He's a talented director who knows how to make great action movies with characters you actually care about (look no further than Edge of Tomorrow). He recently wrapped production on another Tom Cruise film, Mena, a drama centering on drug trafficking during the 1980s. Its release is expected sometime next year.

Along with Tatum as the lead character of Remy LeBeau AKA Gambit (a New Orleans-based mutant who can manipulate kinetic energy and fights with a staff and a deck of playing cards), Spectre actress Lea Seydoux will play the female lead of Belladonna Boudreaux AKA Bella (also a New Orleans-based mutant who can astrally project herself and fire off blasts of plasma).

Gambit is expected to begin production early next year.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter