White House Down star Channing Tatum revealed last fall that he would love to play Gambit, scoring an enthusiastic endorsement from not only X-Men franchise producer Lauren Shuler Donner -- "I’m dying to do a Gambit movie with Channing Tatum" -- but also the blessing of Taylor Kitsch, who portrayed the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

But what are the odds we could actually see Tatum as smooth-talking New Orleans mutant Remy LeBeau? Pretty decent, it seems.

"I met with Lauren Shuler Donner, and I would love it," he told MTV backstage at the MTV Movie Awards. "Gambit is really the only X-Man I’ve ever loved. I mean, I’ve loved them all, they’re all great, but I guess just being from being down South – my dad’s from Louisiana, I’m from Mississippi, Alabama, Florida – I don’t know, I just related to him. He’s just kind of suave … He’s the most un-X-Men X-Man that’s ever been in X-Men, other than maybe Wolverine, who’s like the anti-hero. He’s a thief. He’s not even, like, a hero. He’s kind of walking the line of gray. … He loves women and drinking and smoking and stuff, so he’s just a cool guy who happens to have a good moral center ...

I hope it [comes together]," Tatum continued. "You never know, it’s a weird industry. If the stars align, I would die to play it. I’m already working on the accent. It’s crappy at the moment."

The character, who was introduced nearly 24 years ago, appears to be on the minds of a lot of people lately: X-Men: Days of Future Past director Bryan Singer revealed just last month that he's considering bringing Gambit and a young Nightcrawler into the follow-up X-Men: Apocalypse.

(via /Film)