Doug Liman Explains Why He Left The Gambit Movie

For years, Director Doug Liman has been known to make visually-impressive movie masterpieces that make up the entirety of some action films in his card. Among his movies are the spy-epic “The Bourne Identity,” “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” the action-comedy that shook the world of Brangelina back in 2004, and the Emily Blunt and Tom Cruise-led “Edge of Tomorrow” in 2014. It has also been revealed that he was supposed to direct the “Gambit” movie earlier this year before leaving the project.

He also has a couple of action-based comic book movies in his repertoire, including “Edge of Tomorrow,” as it was based on the manga “All You Need Is Kill.” He was then set to be involved in the production of  “Gambit” with Channing Tatum before he went on to “Justice League Dark.”

Director Doug Liman On Departure From FOX’s Gambit Movie

Liman had previously stated that the reason why he left the “Gambit” movie was because the script didn’t work out the way he wanted to. Now he dives in to more detail about the other reasons of his departure in his recent interview with Collider.

“I never formed a connection. Many of these movies, I don’t have the connection on day one, but I find the connection,” Liman said. “I just never find it. I don’t always find a connection. I want to make a movie that, if anybody else made it, it would be different.”

He referenced his film “Swingers” as he made the connection of his issue with the script. He wanted to make Vince Vaughn a likable character in the film, as any other director would have only just stuck to making Vaughn an “asshole.”

Ha also added that his film “Go” had the same fate of being an entire cast of unlikable characters. He turned it around by making his version of “Go” something that “celebrate them instead of being judgmental of them.”

“And ever since Go, I’ve looked for that personal connection where, because of the experiences I’ve had in life, if I tell this story, it will be fundamentally different than if any other director tells it, even if the experience I’m talking about is the previous movie I’ve made,” Liman said.

Despite all his efforts to turn things around for “Gambit,” he just couldn’t make it work. “That’s part of what didn’t click for me on Gambit, in finding that unique way in,” Liman said.

Despite Liman’s departure, “Gambit” is still in active development at FOX.