Deadpool 2 Film Details
Deadpool 2 is a 2018 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is the sequel to Deadpool (2016) and the eleventh installment overall in the X-Men film series. The film was directed by David Leitch and written by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Ryan Reynolds, who stars in the title role alongside Josh Brolin, Morena Baccarin, Julian Dennison, Zazie Beetz, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, and Jack Kesy. In the film, Deadpool forms the X-Force to protect a young mutant from the time-traveling soldier Cable.
Plans for a sequel to Deadpool began before the original film’s release, and were confirmed in February 2016. Though the original creative team of Reynolds, Reese, Wernick, and director Tim Miller were quickly set to return for the second film, Miller left the project in October 2016 due to creative differences with Reynolds and was soon replaced by Leitch. An extensive casting search took place to fill the role of Cable, with Brolin ultimately cast. Filming took place in British Columbia from June to October 2017. The film is dedicated to the memory of stuntwoman Joi “SJ” Harris, who died in a motorcycle accident during filming.
Deadpool 2 was released in the United States on May 18, 2018. The film outgrossed its predecessor, earning over $785 million worldwide, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2018, the highest-grossing film in the X-Men series, and the highest-grossing R-rated film at the time. The film received positive reviews from critics, with some considering it superior to the first film and praising its humor, cast performances, story, and action sequences, while others criticized its tone, script, and recycled jokes. A PG-13-rated version of the film, titled Once Upon a Deadpool, was released on December 12, 2018 to mixed reviews. Following Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox in March 2019, Deadpool’s film rights reverted to Marvel Studios. A sequel, Deadpool 3, which will integrate the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), is set for release on May 3, 2024, as the fourth film in Phase Five of the MCU.
STORY
PRODUCTION
Development
Producer Simon Kinberg revealed in September 2015 that discussions had begun regarding ideas for a sequel to Deadpool, which was set to be released in February 2016. One idea was for the film to introduce the character Cable, who had previously been looked at to appear in the first Deadpool and X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) before that. Cable’s inclusion in the potential sequel was confirmed by the character Deadpool while breaking the fourth wall in the post-credits scene of the first film. Domino, a character with connections to Cable in the comics, was also believed to be featured in the sequel. By the first film’s release, 20th Century Fox had green-lit a sequel, with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick returning to write the screenplay. Though director Tim Miller and producer/star Ryan Reynolds were not confirmed for the sequel at the time, Fox was “intent on keeping the creative team together”. Miller and Reynolds’ involvement was confirmed at the 2016 CinemaCon that April, though Miller had still not formally signed on to direct the sequel. He began work developing the script with the writers, while Reynolds had signed a new contract granting him “casting approval and other creative controls”.
In June 2016, Kinberg expected filming to begin at the beginning of 2017. By August, Kyle Chandler was believed to be in the running to portray Cable. After being mentioned in the post credits of the first film, Dolph Lundgren expressed interest in playing the role. He took to his social media to share concept imagery created by poster artist Justin Paul. Testing of actresses for Domino had also begun by October, with the shortlist of actresses under consideration including Lizzy Caplan, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Sienna Miller, Sofia Boutella, Stephanie Sigman, Sylvia Hoeks, Mackenzie Davis, Ruby Rose, Eve Hewson, and Kelly Rohrbach. The producers were particularly interested in casting a black or Latina actress in the role.
At the end of October, Miller left the film over “mutual creative differences” with Reynolds, reportedly based on several factors, including Reynolds’ expanded creative control over the sequel; Miller’s wish for a more stylized follow-up than the first film, versus Reynolds’ focus “on the raunchy comedy style that earned the first movie its R rating”; and Miller’s intention to cast Chandler as Cable, which Reynolds opposed. Fox ultimately backed “its marketable star” over Miller, who had made his directorial debut with the first film. Miller denied this report, while Reynolds said he could only add that “I’m sad to see him off the film. Tim’s brilliant and nobody worked harder on Deadpool than he did.” Miller’s plans for the film included introducing the young mutant Rusty and a comic book-accurate portrayal of Cable, having Vanessa embrace her Copycat persona from the comics, and featuring a fight between Juggernaut and the Thing. The latter is a member of the Fantastic Four, and the studio had approved crossing the character over from that franchise before Miller’s exit. A week after Miller’s departure, Fox was looking at David Leitch, Drew Goddard, Magnus Martens, and Rupert Sanders as potential replacements for the director. Leitch was the “strong frontrunner” for the role, and signed on a month later. Reynolds, a fan of Leitch’s John Wick, said the director “really understands those Deadpool sensibilities and where we need to take the franchise”, and “can make a movie on an ultra tight minimal budget look like it was shot for 10–15 times what it cost”.
CAST
- Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson / Deadpool:
A wisecracking mercenary with accelerated healing but severe scarring over his body after undergoing an experimental regenerative mutation. He forms the X-Force, a team of mutants, after finding himself at his “lowest point” at the beginning of the film. The film makes several references to Deadpool’s pansexuality after the first film was criticized for ignoring it. As a co-writer on the film, Reynolds ad-libbed much of his dialogue throughout the production process. For the film’s mid-credits sequence, archive footage of Reynolds portraying Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine is used, and Reynolds also portrays himself before he acted in the film Green Lantern. - Josh Brolin as Cable:
A time-traveling cybernetic soldier, “in many ways the opposite of Deadpool”. Director David Leitch called the dynamic between Cable and Deadpool “sort of classic buddy-cop fare”, and compared them to the characters portrayed by Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy, respectively, in 48 Hrs. (1982). Leitch added that the character as written in the script was mostly just an “action character”, and he relied on Brolin to add nuance to the role and explore the character’s internal pain to avoid it becoming a caricature. Brolin signed a four-film deal, and described his appearance here as just the introduction for the character, with “three more movies to reveal more”. - Morena Baccarin as Vanessa:
Wilson’s fiancée. The character is killed at the beginning of the film in an example of “fridging”—the killing of a female character to forward the development of a male character. This happens to Cable’s wife and daughter as motivation for his story arc as well. Leitch and the writers said they were unaware of the term “fridging” and that they were not being “consciously sexist”. Earlier versions of the film simply had Vanessa breaking up with Wilson, but the writers wanted to use the opportunity to “engender great suffering for him by having his line of work be the thing that costs Vanessa her life”. They were also more comfortable with the deaths due to the increased number of strong female characters in the film and because the deaths are reversed by the end of the film with time travel; screenwriter Rhett Reese stated, “Maybe that’s a sexist thing. I don’t know. And maybe some women will have an issue with that. I don’t know. I don’t think that that’ll be a large concern, but it didn’t even really occur to us.” Baccarin said she trusted the storyline was necessary for the film and emphasized the fact that Vanessa is saved at the end of the film. - Julian Dennison as Russell Collins / Firefist:
A young mutant with pyrokinetic abilities who is being hunted by Cable. Reynolds insisted on casting Dennison after seeing him in Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016), with the character “tailor-made” for him, and no other actors considered for the role. Leitch thought the character was an “interesting take on the whole angle of the villain”. Dennison felt the role was particularly special because, being “chubby”, he would watch superhero films and “never see anyone like me. I am excited to be that for other kids who look like me.” Sala Baker plays the character at an older age, in Cable’s future. - Zazie Beetz as Domino:
A mercenary with the mutant ability to manipulate luck, who joins Deadpool’s X-Force team. Leitch described the film’s version of the character as Beetz’ own “real fun interesting take”, with the actress interpreting Domino as an only child who forms a “sibling sort of relationship” with Deadpool, with “that back-and-forth banter where she is not dealing with his”. Beetz began “working out every day” when she got the role, which required her to shoot guns and use “full body” physicality, and chose not to shave her armpits to match the changing perception of the practice among the general public and to prove that it is “not something that is gross or shameful”. - T.J. Miller as Weasel:
Wilson’s best friend and the owner of a bar frequented by mercenaries. - Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead:
A teenage X-Man with the mutant power to detonate atomic bursts from her body, she is now a “new level of X-Men” after being a trainee in the first film. Hildebrand felt that “it’s cool that she’s grown and matured and she still has so much of this essence of a punk kid” from the first film, and added that the character would have a “cooler” costume in the sequel. The filmmakers intended to have Hildebrand shave her head to indicate that her abilities burned off her hair, but she was unable to do so due to a television series commitment. The film also reveals that Negasonic is in a same-sex relationship, which is the first openly LGBTQ relationship depicted in a Marvel film. When Reynolds asked Hildebrand how she felt about the potential storyline during development, the actress—a member of the LGBTQ community herself—responded positively with the stipulation that the film not make “a big deal” about the relationship. In a statement, GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis praised the relationship as “a milestone in a genre that too often renders LGBTQ people invisible, and should send a message to other studios to follow this example of inclusive and smart storytelling”. - Jack Kesy as Black Tom Cassidy:
A mutant inmate of the facility where Deadpool and Firefist are imprisoned. He was originally written as a more prominent antagonist, acting as a “devil on Firefist’s shoulder”, but his role was reduced when the writers decided there were too many antagonists in the story and the budget would be better spent on a character such as Juggernaut.
RELEASE
May 18, 2018
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