Yahoo News Josh Holloway says he was originally cast as Gambit
Lost actor Josh Holloway was for the longest time a hot favourite to play Gambit in the X-Men film series.
And the actor has now claimed that he was actually cast as the card-wielding Cajun for 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, before being outed and replaced by Taylor Kitsch.
"I actually screen-tested with Hugh Jackman," he told Digital Spy and other press, while promoting the third season of his USA Network series Colony.
"It was amazing – they said, 'You're it, you're the guy, you're Gambit!' and they shook my hand."
But then, according to Holloway, "some studio head" intervened, insisting that the character should be played by a younger actor. (Kitsch was 28 at the time of the film's release, while Holloway was then aged 40.)
"[The studio head] said, 'I want someone really young, like that kid in High School Musical!', so there I went," Holloway explained.
Adding that he would "love" to play Gambit, Holloway revealed that he even studied card tricks to prepare for his audition, using online tutorials. "I could spin a card on one finger, I could one-hand cut, I learned to throw a card... it was cool."
The only real issue with his casting, aside from studio opposition? "I'm terrible at the Cajun accent," he admitted. "I wish I could [do it]."
Following Kitch's sole outing as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Channing Tatum was cast to play the character in a new spin-off film back in 2014. However, the project has been stuck in development hell ever since, with three directors – Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman and Gore Verbinski – all joining, then later departing, the movie.
Colony returns to USA Network on Wednesday (May 2) at 10/9c.
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