Doug Liman walked away from 'Gambit' because he never found a personal connection to the 'X-Men' spin-off.
Doug Liman
The 'Edge of Tomorrow' director was originally reported to be working on the film after original director Rupert Wyatt departed from the production but now Liman has spoken out about why he dropped out as well.
Speaking to We Got This Covered, the 51-year-old filmmaker said: "I look for a personal connection to the movies I make and it may not be immediately obvious.
"You know like what's my connection to Jason Bourne? I have a deeply personal connection to that movie because it's all about Iran-Contra and my father ran the investigations into Iran-Contra.
"In every story I have a personal connection. 'The Wall' you'd be like what could this filmmaker from New York possibly have in common with these two soldiers pinned down in Iraq?
"But 'The Wall' is really about perseverance. It's about picking yourself up and you just keep going and that's something I have firsthand experience with. Not with war but in other aspects of life.
"With 'Gambit' I just never found that personal way in. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't."
The film was originally slated for an October 2016 release but the project was stalled before it went into production.
Liman had already replaced original director Wyatt, who left over budgetary disagreements, and there have been reports of multiple script re-writes meaning the movie has been pushed back to 2017.
Now the director is in charge of DC Comics film 'Justice League Dark' which follows an undercover superhero team comprised of occult characters such as Detective John Constantine, Etrigan the Demon, Zatanna, Swamp Thing, Deadman, Shade and The Changing Man.
On the upside, 'Gambit' has held on to its titular star Channing Tatum who will bring the kinetic energy controlling mutant to life.
Tagged in Channing Tatum Doug Liman Rupert Wyatt