Spotlight

Taylor Kitsch’s Power Trip

Taylor Kitsch is a powerful guy. Before he got his big break as badboy football player Tim Riggins on TV’s Friday Night Lights, the B.C. native (born in Kelowna; grew up just outside Vancouver) worked as a personal trainer while living in New York and trying to become an actor. But he says he’s never felt anything like the power that came with his latest character, the mutant Gambit in next month’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

“He has kinetic energy, which basically means he can power up these random objects,” explains Kitsch over the phone from L.A. where he’s about to head into the gym for his morning workout. “For him, it’s usually cards because he gambles a lot. In the trailer you can see him throwing those cards at Wolverine. What’s happened is he’s held them long enough where he’s emitted this energy into them, and powered them up and they’re basically like explosives.”

You can see Gambit’s other cool toy in this photo. “We trained with the bow staff for four months,” says Kitsch. That training —which would have been torture for most — was a blast for the former member of the British Columbia Hockey League’s Langley Hornets.

But Kitsch doesn’t think his physique had much to do with landing the role. “I think it was more finding the character of Gambit, the nonchalant coolness of him. It’s gotta be within the cat,” he says.

“With everything he’s been through [Gambit was kidnapped as an infant], he has no reason to answer to anybody and I love that part of him. You know, obviously I love the fight, and I love that kind of adrenaline. And I know that, for the most part, I could probably end anyone who I fought with. And you gotta use those kinds of things too, you know?” Yup, I think we do.  

—Marni Weisz