HIT THE ROAD, AJAX

Rising Brit star Ed Skrein is Deadpool’s nemesis

What does Ajax bring to this story?

When it comes to my parts the movie just kind of slows down, it becomes grounded, it gets a lot darker. It’s a very different dynamic when it’s Ajax time. It’s the dark and the light, the yin and the yang. Hopefully I’m complementing Deadpool’s lightness and making him seem even funnier. And hopefully his lightness is making me seem even darker.

The film has a self- aware tone. Was that easy for you to lock into?

We’re constantly making references to modern pop culture in real life, aren’t we, and quoting things from series and movies and stuff like that. It’s a bit more real to be referencing modern pop culture and being a bit meta than never referencing it because you’re afraid if you mention Justin Bieber then you step out of the world of Marvel. The wonderful thing about the Marvel universe is that it’s based in reality but with that wonderful element of fantasy. And Deadpool has that dynamic.

It’s a film that has an unflinching approach to violence. Was that a concern for you?

It is something that I think about. I’ve got a young son. I want him to know the realities of violence. There’s really no positive side to the reality of violence. But there is a positive side when you’re playfighting. It’s the best way ever to be violent, in a safely controlled environment on a film set. But I don’t want people to think that violence is something that comes without negative connotations. From the beginning we were conscious that there had to be consequences. If someone gets hit in the face their eye’s going to be black. If someone gets smashed in their jaw they’re going to break their jaw. There’s always a negative side, even for the “winner”.