DEADPOOL 2 RELEASE DATE 16/ 5
AFTER GROSSING $783 MILLION worldwide and becoming one of the biggest box office surprises in recent history, Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth returns for another round of R-rated superhero fun. “Wade has settled into his new life, new looks, and his relationship [with Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa] in a pretty positive way,” says Reynolds. “But he’s also a victim of his own hubris, and that’s what sort of creates the conflicts and the issues he has to deal with in this.”
One of the most substantial obstacles is time-travelling badass Cable ( Avengers: Infinity War’s Josh Brolin). “Cable feels like an angry, violent dad on a mission,” says Reynolds. “He’s one of those guys who doesn’t care what’s in his way. He’s a bit of a goal-oriented psychopath, if that makes sense.”
Casting the role proved challenging, with a lot of names rumoured to be in contention, including Kyle Chandler and David Harbour. Says director David Leitch ( Atomic Blonde): “From my action background, I can take somebody and help transform them physically. But you can’t teach that other part that the actor is responsible for, like bringing the humanity to the character and the soul to the character. Being the level of actor that he is, Josh was just like a godsend from heaven.”
Leitch, who co-directed John Wick, is also a newcomer to the franchise, but fit right in with the somewhat scrappy production. “We still had a budget that is incredibly small compared to the Marvel and DC cinematic universe,” says Reynolds. “David is so used to having $12 million to make something look like $50 million. In a lot of instances you’d rely a little bit more on doubles or CGI, and David tends to lean towards down and dirty and real. I love that you can see that and feel that. They’re incredibly visceral these fight sequences.”
While the actors and filmmakers are mum on details, we do know that Cable arrives from the future tasked with capturing a teen with special abilities ( Hunt for the Wilderpeople’s Julian Dennison) and ends up at odds with Deadpool. “They both have their competing agendas: one is to capture the kid and one is to save the kid,” says Leitch. “He’s valuable to both of them in different ways, and it becomes personal for both of them.” To battle Cable, Deadpool rallies together a team of mutants called the X-force. (In the scene above, he’s attempting to woo potential ally Colossus by paying homage to Say Anything …) Also included in this motley crew is Domino ( Atlanta’s Zazie Beetz), who can control the laws of probability, and her personality provides a nice mellow contrast. “It’s sort of like she smoked a bowl of Matthew Mcconaughey before each scene,” says Reynolds. “She just had this kind of ‘Everything is cool, man’ thing. It’s so funny to see that around Deadpool’s highstrung neuroses.” Alright, alright, alright.
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