(This article contains spoilers for Deadpool and Wolverine.)
Nobody likes having to explain a joke, especially when the joke is, “I’m doing something so obviously wrong that everyone can see I’m doing it on purpose.” So we have some sympathy for Channing Tatum, who felt the need to make it clear to at least some people that the Gambit accent he sported in this summer’s big-budget, cameo-turned-movie Deadpool & Wolverine was meant to be.
Tatum has been hitting the press lately promoting his new thriller Blink Twice (directed by his partner Zoe Kravitz), which has included a lot of Gambit talk, telling Vanity Fair that he was hesitant to steal an outfit from a movie he’s in, even though he usually does (somewhere in Hollywood, the costume director’s hands are shaking with rage). However, he told Access Hollywood that he was scared he’d “have to explain this joke,” explaining of his accent, “Actually, I was trying to make it a little hard to understand. That’s the joke.” (To be clear, I think this plays out pretty well in the movie, but it’s still a bit disappointing that Tatum felt the need to get ahead of the critics.)
In fact, Tatum said that star Ryan Reynolds asked him to tone down or strengthen his Cajun accent to explore comedic elements in the film. Reynolds “came to me and said, ‘I don’t want to know what you’re saying this time,’ so I just made the accent stronger. But other times, I was like, ‘Okay, I need to understand what you’re saying.'” If you think about it, this is a bit surprising. No one in Hollywood is as eager to play a specific superhero role as Tatum, so it must feel a bit odd to have to present at least part of that performance as a joke. (Also, we’re endlessly curious to know what it’s like to actually film these movies. Does official director Shawn Levy just pull out an iPad and watch YouTube while Reynolds directs his co-stars?) Anyway, Tatum himself seems pleased enough with the results that he even harbors hope that he could one day do a Gambit movie, even if that world doesn’t actually exist. Gambit: It’s inspiring and incomprehensible at the same time!
(via Variety)
