LOS ANGELES – A Zoom chat with Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool and producer) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) is fun, goofy and a bit sweet like their film.
Especially when you add to the mix Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, co-stars Emma Corrin (Cassandra Nova) and Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Paradox), producer Wendy Jacobson, and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige.
And Peggy, Britain’s “ugliest dog” who plays Dogpool, sat in, too, beside her master, Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, aka Ryan.
And when you add actor Rob Delaney, who plays Peter in the movie, as the moderator, the video press conference is meta-goofing at its silliest best. I share here the freewheeling conversation in more or less the same way it transpired.
Oh, about the movie? It’s a heady combo of mayhem, visual and verbal puns, naughtiness, and superhero stuff. And be prepared for a lot of star cameo appearances and the obligatory reference to the late great Stan Lee.
But let me just say that to me, Channing Tatum as Gambit is the best cameo in the film.
Below was edited for brevity and clarity but it captures the wisecracking chat with the talents and creatives who were gathered together in New York.
Rob started the ball rolling by asking Kevin what Ryan, Hugh, and Shawn brought to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
“The simplest answer is they have brought this movie to the MCU,” Marvel’s Big Kahuna began.
“And what Shawn has done with this movie and what Ryan and Hugh have done bringing it to the MCU, not only everything we know they can do with these characters but the camaraderie, friendship, and love that Shawn harnessed between the two of them, through the script, onto the camera and the screen is remarkable.”
“Peggy even sat up when I said that because she knew.”
Ryan said of the Chinese crested/pug mix: “She finds you captivating.”
He joked, “Peggy doesn’t do audience questions, by the way. She only does SAG-certified questions.”
Shawn, on what made directing Deadpool & Wolverine his perfect entry into the MCU: “I got really lucky because I got to be the first filmmaker to put this duo together onscreen. The MCU is always at its best when it is giving us something that we don’t expect.”
“And under this banner, you have the capacity for a Ragnarok to sit alongside a Black Panther and an Iron Man.”
“And this ability to surprise us is the MCU at its best. And we had an opportunity collectively to do the first R-rated MCU movie and the first pairing of Deadpool and Wolverine. So, built into this opportunity was the chance to surprise and to do something new and unexpected.”
Ryan on his expectations when he heard that Disney bought 20th Century Fox (watch for this sight gag) and that Deadpool was going to be in the MCU: “I had no expectations. I’ve built a career on really having as few expectations as possible. And it really does prevent crippling disappointment.”
“I met with Kevin and we had a really great meeting. Our first chat about the movie was about five or six years ago. It was a very slow process.”
“I did pitch many different ideas but it was about pitching an idea that both of us genuinely clicked with. Shawn and I were shooting The Adam Project in Vancouver.”
“I kinda said to him, ‘Look, I think the only way I would do this is if I was not just writing this with you but also with Rhett (Reese), Paul (Wernick), and Zeb (Wells). I’ve been writing with Rhett and Paul since the first movie. 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, he said yes.”
“And we’ve been on this insane, wonderful journey ever since. 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 in this film. But that’s really when everything clicked.”
Hugh was asked what made him come back as Wolverine – after all, didn’t we see him die in Logan? What motivated him to rise from the dead?
“The real suit,” Hugh quipped with a laugh. “No. I watched Deadpool 1 three days after announcing that Logan would be my last and I remember thinking, oops. Because I could see the movie.”
“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. And then, 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. Planes, Trains & Automobiles. It was all these great matchups that I could feel.”
“And we toyed with the idea but it was August 14, 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. Because 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.”
Ryan and Hugh, whose close friendship and chemistry are evident in this film, talked about what they did not know about each other before going into filming.
Hugh went first: “I want to really speak to the side of Ryan as a writer and as a producer. I did know these things. I have obviously been around Ryan with writing and I’ve been around him and seen him but not in a film with him as a producer.”
“Or in a film with him as a writer and it’s in his generosity in both. He’s all over it. There’s a lot of actors who have ‘Producer’ written after them and titles, and I’m like, mmm, not so much. Probably including myself in a couple of cases (laughs)?”
“But with Ryan, it is a hundred percent. He and Shawn led from the front in every way. They created an atmosphere that was simultaneously free, fun, and playful.”
“But also everyone 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. And that kind of generosity, he can’t speak to because he’ll self-deprecate and undercut. And I can speak to it.”
I noticed that as I watched Deadpool & Wolverine in the Disney lot in Burbank – Ryan highlighted the main cast, especially Hugh, who has dramatic moments.
“Jesus,” Ryan reacted. “Well, most of what I’ve learned about Hugh just happened right now. That was incredibly generous and kind, and thank you. I’ve known Hugh for a long time. My first experience with a proper big-ass movie star was Hugh Jackman in 2008.”
“Mr. Hugh Jackman,” Hugh jokingly corrected his pal.
“I’m sorry – Mr. Hugh Jackman,” Ryan complied with a grin. “I stepped onto that set on X-Men Origins: Wolverine which was during a really tough time. We had a writers’ 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, kindness, and professionalism.”
“And seeing a person who has cumulatively acquired a lifetime of choreography, learning, unlearning, and relearning all of these different things, controlling his voice, Broadway, all those things, all of that being ultra applicable to the most aggressive, violent character in the MCU, was so interesting to me.”
Emma – who knew the actress who played the shy Diana in the Princess’ younger years in The Crown can be such a menacing villain? – and Matthew shared what it was like to be on Shawn’s set.
Emma said, “There’s so much asked of you as a director and as a writer as well on a project of this scale and you didn’t feel it for one second. You create an atmosphere that’s so gorgeous and welcoming and there’s boundless creativity and opportunity to play. I don’t think my character would be anything that it is without Shawn’s leadership.”
Matthew, Tom Wambsgans to Succession fans but still Mr. Darcy to many Pride & Prejudice diehards to this day, agreed: “The thing for an actor, the bottom line, the thing you dream of, is for a director to give you confidence, if nothing else. And Shawn not only leads that in abundance.”
To this question, “If Peggy could talk, who would she say is her favorite person on set? And when you were in scenes with her, did the W.C. Fields old adage, ‘Never work with children or animals’ ever come to mind?”
Ryan answered, “I think Peggy quite liked me or the salmon paste.”
Hugh said, “So that’s what you had in your mouth.”
Rob asked Ryan to “describe the intimate connection”: “There is a sequence in the film where Peggy and I…well, she explores my mouth using only her leathery tongue, which honestly looks like a Slim Jim commercial with Randy ‘Macho Man’ Savage snapping off a meat stick.”
Shawn commented, “People have asked me how we did the digital effect of her tongue.” The dog’s unusually long tongue perpetually droops out of her mouth.
“Nope, that’s the real thing,” Ryan stressed.
Shawn: “We really relied on practical and real effects.”
Ryan remarked, “Peggy is incredible. She went really from zero to hero on this movie. I’m not kidding. Peggy won the UK’s Ugliest Dog Competition, which frankly, I think, is cruel.”
Sorry, Ryan, but Peggy – bug-eyed, a weird shock of white hair, like a mohawk, on her head, with a lolling tongue (the adoring actor was quoted as saying that it’s 61 inches long and she has “enormous, distended nipples”) – is a deserving winner of that title.
“It’s a cruel contest,” Ryan quipped. “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 she is the sort of dog version of me.”
Shawn predicted, “I think a lot of people are about to be obsessed (with Peggy).”
Ryan: “Yeah. Mary ‘Puppins,’ as we call her, or Dogpool. She has an Instagram account if anyone’s curious: @dogpool. I’m sure Feige paid a lot of money for that. Hashtag ‘worth it.’ ”
This question was posed to Hugh: “What was it like for you to be able to explore so many different variants of Wolverine and do you have a favorite?”
“It was fantastic,” the Aussie superstar replied. But first about the yellow and blue Wolverine suit which he wore for the first time in this movie: “I’m gonna say the highlight. We were joking a bit before but the highlight was putting on that suit, the yellow and blue suit.”
“And it had been talked about from the very beginning. Those conversations were there. It wasn’t like it was never mentioned. But it was at the beginning in 1999, just universally or I don’t know if universally but I’m sure you’d disagree.”
Kevin clarified: “There were studio execs in charge who knew that The Matrix had been a big hit. And The Matrix had black leather so let’s put them in black leather.”
Hugh laughed, “I got it after all these years. And then it became like, I don’t know if we can make it work. I don’t know if we can.”
“And the moment I put it on, I remember walking out there with Ryan on set, him in the Deadpool (suit), me in the yellow and blue, among this crew that had done hundreds of movies and seen everything.”
“There was just a hush and you could feel that everyone was like, going, oh, okay. This is a moment that should have happened 24 years ago.”
Ryan said to Hugh, “One of the coolest moments of my whole career was standing next to you in that moment.”
Hugh agreed, “Me, too. I just can’t imagine doing it any other ways. In terms of the variants, it was so cool. I was given, actually, on the very first movie, a thing which I had framed, which was a collection. Imagine like trading cards but not cut up.”
“So, it was just a sheet of trading cards of all the different Wolverine variants. There may have been 60 on that, maybe 50 or 60.”
“I’ve had it next to my bed in Australia and I look at it all the time. I just think, wow, the pirate, wow, the samurai. Like, how could you pull that off?”
“And all of a sudden, this movie, I’m like, oh, yeah. Tick, tick, tick, tick. Not the part, by the way. Anyway, it was cool. You didn’t ask which was my favorite? I have to say, I think Patch. There’s something about Patch that ticked a little James Bond.”
Emma was asked, “What’s interested you the most about Cassandra and how was it for you as an actor working on the tone of absurdity and profanity signature to this franchise?”
Emma answered, “Absurdity was a fun one that piqued my interest in joining the Deadpool universe, in particular. And bringing Cassandra to it, obviously with everything that we know and love about her origin story with her relationship with Charles Xavier and all that.”
“That was the key into it for me because the term villain is a great one and we all know that villains have the most fun. I really needed to find a key into what made her tick, find that side to empathize with her.”
Ryan shared, “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. And if you think about it, everyone is a hero in their own story.”
“I have to say that I haven’t, shamefully,” Matthew admitted when asked, “Have you watched the Loki series in preparation for your character and to learn about the complex world of the TVA (Time Variance Authority)?”
Mathew continued, “But in a funny way, that’s great because I can just come to it pretty fresh. And it’s a very complicated world, the TVA.”
“And Mr. Paradox is an interesting character. He’s slightly angry, jangly, middle-management, upper apparatchik (laughs) who’s ambitious for greater things. I wasn’t related to any of these so I just dove and hoped for the best.”
On the inclusion of the Stray Kids’ Slash in the soundtrack, Ryan replied, “I’ve kind of tangentially known them now a little bit better than before. It has more to do with how South Korea understands to make gigantic global impressions in culture, through film, music, art of any kind.”
“Years ago, the Stray Kids, we just called the Kids. They did a Deadpool-inspired music video, which I saw. I thought it was phenomenal. And then I reached out to one of the members and he and I became fast digital friends. And now, we’ve met in person.”
“And so yeah, that was it. The initial plan, I’ll say I’ve never said this out loud before, was to have them appear in the film.”
“But with the strike happening in the middle and so many other issues, it became logistically impossible. And I will never forget the look on our line producer’s face when I said that there are eight of them.”
Wendy answered this question, “Was there ever anything considered too much or too far with this film?”
“We all went into this movie with eyes wide open, knowing we were making a Deadpool film, right? And so, no, nothing ever went too far.”
“Kevin put it very eloquently that there’s a real egalitarianism in being insulted by Deadpool. Nothing is sacred. So, really, it’s a badge of honor to be made fun of by Deadpool.”
Turning to Ryan, the Marvel boss, who recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with the actor, Hugh and Emma among the stars who attended, said: “I remember you said something early on, which is Deadpool always punches up because it’s funny. He never punches down because that’s mean.”
Ryan: “My favorite target is me.”
Ryan discussed playing again Wade/Deadpool who is open with his emotions, mixed in with the sass that moviegoers have embraced him for: “This character has always been kind of emotional. If you don’t backstop a character like this with real vulnerability and emotion, then that’s the plant. It’s very hard to give people the payoff which is that he is audacious and completely different.”
“And he 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 to other people is his vulnerability, that he is a character in a shame spiral. And 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. That also gives us the license to play around with the comedy. And really, he and Wolverine are more similar than different, in the sense that both, actually, their big shadow is 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.”
One fight sequence that is amusing moviegoers is Ryan, costumed in his irreverent character’s red and black suit, dances and shakes his butt and hips to ’N Sync’s Bye Bye Bye, as he battles a seemingly endless line of adversaries.
Ryan revealed, “A little confession for you. A lot of people don’t know – I can sing and move well. But that is actually the first lie I’ll tell today.”
“The second is that I gotta actually hit right on the head. A guy named Nick Pauley is the guy who choreographed. He was doing a lot of the moves that had been established previously by ’N Sync. If it looks like the person who’s dancing doesn’t have arthritis, that’s him.”
“And then there are the moments where there’s a bit of a pop and lock, except the pop really pops, like it cracks. And the lock will not unlock.”
“I would do anything I could to free myself up. But yeah, I will hang on to Nick Pauley’s talent. I will hang my hat on his talent there and thank him for his contribution and services.”
Lastly, the group was asked what is their favorite fan theory about Deadpool & Wolverine.
Emma: “The King Charles one.”
Shan: “Oh, I was gonna go with that. Yeah, that King Charles is in the movie. That’s my favorite, too.”
Ryan: “That he wanted to be in the movie.”
Emma: “That’s kind of better. That he desperately wanted to be in the movie.”
Shawn: “Yeah, hard pass.”
Ryan: “Yeah, we left a message. We did not hear back.”
Kevin: “He was Prince when you started production. He was going to do it but then he became King so he couldn’t. Why don’t we throw that in?”
Ryan: “Wait, he’s what? No, I’m kidding. I also didn’t see the last five minutes of Logan. I haven’t.”
Hugh: “I like the one that Ryan is Lady Deadpool. I think that’s good. And I have actually been spreading that.”
Ryan: “My favorite one is that I’m Ladypool. That’s what’s going to happen. I’m gonna take the mask off. Like, my hips, they lie like hell. Those hips don’t lie.”
Rob: “Oh, yeah. No, I was on set with her and she’s not you.”
Ryan: “Yeah, that is a red jaguar coming at us. So, no.”
Shawn: “Let’s say no more.”
Ryan: “Yeah, that’s enough.” – Rappler.com
