The theatrical release of Marvel Studios’ highly anticipated new movie Deadpool & Wolverine is just a couple days away, and last week Laughing Place was invited to participate in a press conference with its cast and creators. Below are some of the more interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits we learned from the film’s two stars Ryan Reynolds (who plays Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool) and Hugh Jackman (Logan, AKA Wolverine).
The first question asked of Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds by moderator Rob Delaney (who reprises his role as Peter in Deadpool & Wolverine) was, “When you heard that Disney [acquired] Fox and that Deadpool was gonna be in the [Marvel Cinematic Universe], what was your reaction and expectation?” And Reynolds first jokingly replied, “What’s the EBITDA [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] coming out of Fox and why are we doing this?” Then he followed that up with a more sincere answer: “No, I had no expectations. I’ve built a career on really having as few expectations as possible, you know, and it really does prevent crippling disappointment. But I’d met with [Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige], and we had a really great meeting. This is five years ago, six years ago– our first chat about the movie. And it was just a very slow process. I mean, it wasn’t so much about pitching different ideas– which I did pitch many different ideas– but it was about pitching [an] idea that both of us genuinely clicked with. And then of course, Shawn and I were shooting Adam Project in Vancouver and I said to him, ‘Look, I think the only way I would do this is if I was not just writing this with you, and of course Rhett [Reese] and Paul [Wernick], who I’ve been writing with since the first movie, and Zeb [Wells].’”
“‘But if you direct it, I would be into doing this.’ And then Shawn just basically took his white glove off and slapped the side of my face with it like some sort of ‘20s harlot and said, ‘My glove to your damned insolent cheek, child.’ And then for some reason after that said yes, [laughs] and we’ve been on this insane, wonderful journey ever since. And of course, none of this came to reality until Mr. Hugh Jackman decided one day to levitate down from the clouds or whatever sort of heaven nest he lives in and bless us with his presence on this film. But that’s really when everything kind of clicked.” Reynolds also talked about his co-stars Matthew McFadyen and Emma Corrin, who play the film’s two villains Mr. Paradox and Cassandra Nova, respectively: “There’s a nimbleness that you both have that you can kinda go anywhere, and it’s very rare. You know, we co-wrote this script, but I had no clue what was gonna come out of either of your mouths. And it was one of those really special experiences where you just go, ‘Whoa. This is what it feels like when somebody genuinely just can elevate everything that’s already there.’ One of the things I loved watching about Emma’s performance was that they never played the character like a villain, but more like a hero. If you think about it, everyone is a hero in their own story. I don’t care who you’re talking about throughout history. They have a conviction that is theirs and theirs alone, and in their mind, they are El Numero Uno– the one, the hero. And I felt that coming across [in Corrin’s performance] and it was such an interesting, fascinating color for this character.”
But Reynolds saved his highest praise for the man who plays the other character in the movie’s title: “I've known Hugh for a long time. My first experience with a proper big-ass movie star was Hugh Jackman in 2008. He was the Wolverine. I mean, I stepped onto that set on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which [was] during a really tough time. It was not unlike this year where we had a writer’s strike, so [it was] very hard to make a movie in the midst of that. And I watched him as a leader, as a human being, lead with kindness and class. I remember I had a moment where I felt like I could have done a scene better. At the end of the day, everyone was ready to go home. And Hugh just fired up the set, had all the lights turned back on. Everyone was zipping their costumes back up, and he gave me one more crack at it. I just remember thinking, ‘God, if I'm ever even orbiting anywhere near that guy's footprint, I hope I'm something even remotely resembling his level of class and kindness and professionalism. And now, being up close and personal and getting this experience with him, I had a front-row seat [to] what I got to see day in and day out– a person with that kind of control over his voice and his body, 'cause this movie's incredibly physical for him. And seeing a person who's cumulatively acquired a lifetime of choreography, of learning and unlearning and relearning all of these different things– controlling his voice, Broadway, all those things– all of that being ultra-applicable to the most kind of aggressive, violent character in the MCU, was so interesting to me. Just being a foot away from his eyes and the kind of clarity that he had as this character and as a human being, it was really enlightening, and it was– this isn't hyperbole– [a] privilege that I not once took for granted.”
But Ryan also had some kind words to say about Peggy, the dog who plays “Mary Puppins” (AKA Dogpool) in Deadpool & Wolverine. “Peggy is incredible. Peggy really went from zero to hero on this movie, though. I'm not kidding. I mean, Peggy won the UK's Ugliest Dog Competition, which frankly, I think is a cruel contest. I mean, they're very kind to the dogs, but Peggy is a real testament. My character Wade Wilson falls in love with Peggy, because Peggy is the sort of dog version of me– outcast, doesn't look right, you know? But the training team behind this little girl really just stepped up and took her from just an absolute pain in the ass to the most wonderful actor in this entire film. [I’m being] genuine– what a treat. And my kids are obsessed with Peggy. Mary Puppins, as we call her, or Dogpool. But yeah, she has an Instagram account if anyone's curious: @dogpool. I'm sure Feige paid a lot of money for that. Hashtag ‘worth it!’”
Next, Reynolds touched on the adult-targeted nature of the film, which is unusual for Marvel Studios’ output. “If I could just touch on the R-rating for just one second. Kevin had a quote that really stuck with me– he said that this movie’s the most wholesome R-rated movie ever. I felt like that was the most pithy way of explaining the movie, that the R-rating is never exploited. It’s never really used just to use it. It really is there as a facility to tell the most authentic story about these two very iconic characters coming together onscreen for the first time in the exact right way. Also, I think Shawn and I like to make movies responsibly. We like to hold ourselves to account and self-govern as much as possible. But also, [Marvel Studios and Disney] understood what this was from the beginning. Kevin always saw it, and there was nothing that felt like it was off limits. We also understand how to not exploit an R-rating or just use it to be jackasses for some reason. Everything is in service of this movie being as warm as possible and as emotional as possible, while still being the most unexpected MCU film in history.”
Reynolds also touched on the more sentimental moments in Deadpool & Wolverine. “I think this character’s always been kind of emotional. If you don’t backstop a character like this with real vulnerability and emotion, then it’s very hard to give people the payoff, which is that he is kind of audacious and completely different, and can be philosophical in one moment and then have the brain of a half-eaten ham sandwich in the next. He’s a very unpredictable and mercurial character. But to me, the thing that always brings him close to my heart– and I think other [people’s hearts]– is his vulnerability; he is a character in a shame spiral. So much of what he’s doing is based on his avoidance and maladaptive coping mechanisms around that shame. And you know, his face is hideous. He wears a mask to cover it up. I think that also gives us license to play around with the comedy. And really, he and Wolverine are more similar than different, in the sense that both [of] their big shadow is actually shame. The thing that they are running away from is shame, and they just both handle it in very different ways. So I was more interested in what these two characters had in common as we went into this movie, than what they didn’t. I think that’s the thing that’s more interesting, and I think it also speaks to the global issues we experience with everything being so divisive all the time. But yeah, this character’s vulnerability is kind of everything.”
“I think also the greatest fertilizer for creativity on Earth is safety. And I felt like [that] working with Hugh– someone I have so much respect for that words are too clumsy to express it– and Shawn; he’s like a skin-covered Swiss Army knife. He can do anything. He has a legacy of that, of hitting it out of the park in so many different genres, in so many different ways. But having all of these tools in this toolbox to express and play, but also feeling completely safe, just brings out the best in everyone. I never want to be on a set where I’m a producer, having any kind of modicum of power, where that isn’t the case. I know that that’s the same for Hugh, and I know that’s the same for Shawn.” Lastly, Reynolds discussed the ideal way to see Deadpool & Wolverine: “It is built for theaters. There’s a thing that I love, and we’ve talked about this before, called ‘collective effervescence.’ Collective effervescence is basically when you get to experience a kind of elation that can only happen in a group or a shared experience. And movie theaters, since I was as small as I can remember, have been a temple of collective effervescence. So seeing a movie, especially one like this that is quite literally built as a fastball of joy– for audience delight– that its sole purpose for being written and produced and created was joy. Disney may say money or something about capitalism. [laughs] But really genuinely, from our perspective, it’s joy. And that is joy best experienced on a big screen– the bigger, the better.”
Moving on to Hugh Jackman, who is a man of fewer words than Ryan Reynolds, the actor was asked what brought him back to the role of Wolverine. “The real suit,” Jackman joked. “No, I watched Deadpool three days after announcing that Logan would be my last, and I remember thinking, ‘Oops.’ Because I could see the movie [in my head]. Listen, this wasn’t new to me. Ever since I played Wolverine, people have been talking about Deadpool and Wolverine and their rivalry from the comic books. Of course, we had a sort of go at it with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But I could feel it; I could see it. It was Midnight Run. It was 48 Hours. It was The Odd Couple. [It was Planes, Trains] and Automobiles. It was all these great sort of matchups that I could feel. And we toyed with the idea, but it was August 14th, 2022 and I don’t know why, I just knew every cell in my body was yelling at me, ‘I wanna do this movie!’ So much so that I pulled my car over from the side of the road and I rang Ryan immediately, ‘cause I knew that they were getting close to filming. I thought they may have even been filming. And I asked him and thankfully he said yes. I wanna really speak to the side of Ryan as a writer and as a producer. I have obviously been around Ryan and seen him [as an actor], but not in a film with him as a producer or in a film with him as a writer, and it's the generosity of both, I think. He's all over it.”
“There's a lot of actors who have producer written after them [in the credits], and I'm like, ‘Hmm, not so much.’ Probably including myself in a couple of cases? [laughs] But with Ryan, it is a hundred percent [earned]. He and Shawn led from the front in every way. They created an atmosphere that was simultaneously free, fun, [and] playful. But also expecting and helping each other to be at their best, and that's a really fine line to balance. And also as a writer, his generosity in being able to somehow look after everybody else's character even more than his own. And being involved a little bit with edits and cuts, seeing how he will sacrifice even great moments for his character for the betterment of the movie. That kind of generosity he can't speak to, because he'll self-deprecate and undercut. And I can speak to it– it was fantastic.” Of course, Jackman also had to talk about donning a certain iconic Marvel costume for this movie. “I’m gonna [tell you] the highlight: putting on that suit, the yellow and blue suit. It had been talked about from the very beginning in 1999, those conversations were there. It wasn’t like it was never mentioned. But I got it after all these years. [laughs] And then it sort of became like, ‘I don't know if we can make it work.’”
“And the moment I put it on, I remember walking out there with Ryan on set– him in the Deadpool [costume], me in the yellow and blue– amongst this crew that had done hundreds of movies and seen everything. There was just a hush and you could feel that everyone was going, ‘Oh, okay.’ This is a moment that should’ve happened 24 years ago. I just can’t imagine doing it any other way.” Hugh was also asked about some of the [SPOILER ALERT] variants of Logan he got to portray in the film. “In terms of the variants, it was so cool. I was actually given, on the very first movie, a thing which I had framed– a collection [of] trading cards, but not cut up. It was just a sheet of trading cards of all the different Wolverine variants. There would had to have been maybe 50 or 60 variants on that. So I’ve had it next to my bed in Australia and I look at it all the time, and I just think, ‘Wow, the pirate. Wow, the samurai. How could you pull that off?’ And all of a sudden, [in] this movie, I’m like, ‘Oh, yeah.’ Anyway, it was really cool. My favorite of the variants, I have to say, [was] Patch. There’s something about Patch that ticked a little James Bond.” Lastly, Jackman followed up on Reynolds’s thoughts about why Deadpool & Wolverine should be seen on the big screen. “The movie is funny, it’s [got] huge action, it’s massive, it’s all those things you want. But it’s also about friendship, and I think going to a cinema, whether it’s [with] a friend or just someone close to you– I know it’s gonna be an experience that [you’ll] want to enjoy with others. Going to a cinema is gonna make this experience the best.”
Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine will be released this Friday, July 26th, exclusively in theaters.