Wolverine movie casting update

Because you all seem to love geek casting announcements, here's some news: According to Superhero Hype, Friday Night Lights cast member Taylor Kitsch has landed the role of the rajun cajun, Gambit, in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Meanwhile, over on Ain’t It Cool News, they say that Ryan Reynolds has landed one of the two superhero roles that he was born to play, that being the part of the masked merc with a mouth, Deadpool.

Since Deadpool was once in the Weapon X program it makes sense that he’s included in this film. As for Gambit, well, he’s super popular among X-Men fans so the producers have to squeeze him in there somewhere. The character almost made it in X-Men: The Last Stand but got dropped as the storyline grew and the amount of screen time that could have been devoted to introducing new mutant characters shrank.

Friday Night Light's Kitsch could be a good fit for Gambit. He’s got stubble and long hair so at least he’s got the look. He's going to have to nail that New Orleans accent. This might be a fanboy's dream date! As for Reynolds, he’s been itching to play either The Flash or Deadpool for years. Now he’ll have a chance to play at least one superhero that wears red spandex. Suuuupper.

Wolverine is presently filming in Australia under the direction of Gavin Hood (Tsotsi). It’s targeting a May 2009 release date.