‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Press Conference with Cast and Crew

Six years after the “Merc with a Mouth” saved Canada’s pride by blowing Ryan Reynolds’ brains all over his ‘Green Lantern’ script in ‘Deadpool 2‘, he’s back this time to rescue the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU’s first R-rated movie, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ finds Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool (Reynolds), teaming up with Logan, aka Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), the one-time X-Man who we last saw sacrificing himself at the end of 2017’s ‘Logan.’

But the Logan in this film is not the Logan we saw die back then (that one does make an encore here…sort of). When an unhappily retired Deadpool is captured by Time Variance Authority agent Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen) as part of a plan to erase Wade’s timeline, Wade searches the multiverse for the one person who can help save it. That person is Logan — but in classic Deadpool style, he picks the worst Logan of all.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ marks the first time that characters from the now-defunct Fox Marvel Universe are leading an MCU movie, following Disney’s purchase of Fox five years ago. While every Marvel fan in the world has dreamed of seeing Wade and Logan team up onscreen, their traipsing through the MCU’s multiverse is sure to bring about some cosmic changes – not to mention a slew of rumored cameos (too many to go into here). Whatever happens, the MCU is almost certain never to be the same.

Moviefone was at a virtual press conference earlier this week in which all this was discussed – or at least teased – featuring Reynolds, Jackman, Macfadyen, Emma Corrin (who plays villain Cassandra Nova), director Shawn Levy, producer Wendy Jacobson, Marvel Studios chief creative officer Kevin Feige, and Peggy the dog – who plays the variant known as Dogpool.

1) Hugh Jackman Regretted Hanging Up His Claws Almost Immediately

Hugh Jackman said that shortly after completing work on ‘Logan’ and announcing his retirement from the role, the thought of Wolverine teaming with Deadpool made his reconsider his decision.

Hugh Jackman: I watched ‘Deadpool 1’ three days after announcing ‘Logan’ would be my last. 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. Then, of course, we had a go at it with ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ [in which Reynolds played a very different and ill-conceived version of Deadpool], but I could feel it, I could see it. It was ‘Midnight Run,’ it was ‘48 Hours,’ it was ‘The Odd Couple,’ ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.’ It was all these great matchups that I could feel. 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 want to do this movie.” So much so that I pulled my car over and I rang Ryan immediately, because I knew that they were getting close to filming. I thought they may have even been filming. I asked him, and thankfully, he said yes.

2) What Did Ryan Reynolds Learn About Hugh Jackman That He Didn’t Know Before?

Reynolds said that the seeds of his longstanding professional and personal bromance with Jackman began when they first worked together on the troubled set of ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine.’

Ryan Reynolds: I stepped onto that set on ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ during a really tough time. It was not unlike this year, where we had a writers’ strike, so it was very hard to make a movie in the midst of that. 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.” Now, being up close and personal and getting this experience with him…what I got to see day in and day out [was] a person with that control over his voice and his body — because this movie is incredibly physical for him — who’s cumulatively acquired a lifetime of choreography, learning, unlearning, and relearning all of these different things, controlling his voice, Broadway, all those things, and all of that being ultra-applicable to the most aggressive, violent character in the MCU was so interesting to me. Just being a foot away from his eyes and the clarity that he had as this character and as a human being, it was really enlightening. It was a privilege that I not once took for granted.

3) Hugh Jackman Gives It Right Back

Working with Ryan Reynolds for the first time on a film in which Reynolds was one of the main creative drivers as co-writer and producer, Jackman said he came away with a newfound respect for his longtime friend.

Hugh Jackman: I want to really speak to the side of Ryan as a writer and as a producer. I didn’t know these things. I have…not [been] in a film with him as a producer or in a film with him as a writer. It’s the generosity of both, I think. He’s all over it. There are a lot of actors who have producer written after them in titles, and I’m like, “Not so much.” Probably including myself in a couple of occasions. But with Ryan, it is 100%. He and Shawn led from the front in every way. They created an atmosphere that was simultaneously free, fun, playful, but also, everyone expecting and helping each other to be at their best, and that’s a really fine line to balance. Also, as a writer, his generosity in being able to, I think, somehow look after everybody else’s character even more than his own and being involved a little bit with edits and cuts. He will sacrifice even great moments for his character for the betterment of the movie, and that generosity he can’t speak to, because he’ll self-deprecate and undercut, and I can speak to it.

4) Kevin Feige On What Makes ‘Deadpool 3’ Important To The MCU

It’s no secret that the MCU has gone through some rough times with critics, fans, and audiences following the peak performance of ‘Avengers: Endgame’ in 2019. Studio head Kevin Feige explained why ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is a significant film for the ever-expanding Marvel franchise, and whether it marks a ‘before and after’ moment for the saga.

Kevin Feige: Well, I think every movie is important, but the most important thing is a great movie, and Shawn and Ryan and Hugh and this whole team have made a great movie, so there’s nothing better for a cinematic universe than a great movie coming out. The before and after — I mean, I think a lot of people talk about the R rating. Is every movie going to be R-rated after this? Of course not, but I hope every movie after this embraces its tonality the way ‘Deadpool’ does and the way this team was able to do on ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.’ And also, clearly now that we have the characters from the ‘X-Men’ world and the mutants that we haven’t had access before, I think this is the beginning of that. Everything post-‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ will be the mutant era coming into the MCU.

5) Hugh Jackman Is Very Clear About The Highlight Of Playing Wolverine Again

Back when the first ‘X-Men’ movie arrived, fans were disgruntled when the mutant superhero team showed up onscreen in black leather uniforms instead of their classic blue-and-yellow gear [“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,” explained Kevin Feige, who was there at the time]. But fans have been overjoyed to see Logan wearing the iconic colors in live-action for the first time in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine.’

Hugh Jackman: I’ve got to say the highlight was putting on that suit, the yellow and blue suit. It had been talked about from the very beginning, right, Kevin? I mean, those conversations were there. It wasn’t like it was never mentioned…Then it became like, “I don’t know if we can make it work.” But 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 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, “Okay, this is a moment that should have happened 24 years ago.”

6) Ryan Reynolds Loves Peggy The Dog, aka Dogpool

The trailers for ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ have revealed the existence of Dogpool, one of the many Deadpool variants (including Lady Deadpool and others) that Wade comes across in his quest across the multiverse. Dogpool is played by a real canine (not a digital creation) named Peggy.

Ryan Reynolds: Peggy is incredible. Peggy went really from zero to hero on this movie. I’m not kidding. I mean, Peggy won the UK’s ugliest dog competition, which frankly, I think is cruel. 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. But Jules and 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. Genuine, what a treat. My kids are obsessed with Peggy.

7) Hugh Jackman Named His Favorite Wolverine Variant

In a scene already revealed to the press, Deadpool skips through several universes in search of a Wolverine who can help save his timeline. Along the way, he meets several variants in brief sequences representing some of Logan’s most iconic scenes and tableaux from the pages of Marvel Comics. All these variants are played by Jackman, who picked out his favorite.

Hugh Jackman: In terms of the variants, it was so cool. I was given, actually, on the very first ‘X-Men’ movie, a thing which I had framed, which was a collection — imagine trading cards, but not cut-up, so it was just a sheet of trading cards of all the different Wolverine variants. There had to have been maybe 50 or 60 on that. I’ve had it next to my bed in Australia, and I’d look at it all the time and I’d just think, “Wow, the pirate. Wow, the samurai. How could we pull that off?” All of a sudden, this movie, I’m like, [makes ‘checking off list’ sound]. My favorite of the variants, I have to say, I think is Patch [a gambler in a white tux and eyepatch]. There’s something about Patch that’s ticked a little internal James Bond.

8) Emma Corrins Explained What Fascinated Them About Cassandra Nova

Fresh off TV series like ‘The Crown‘, ‘Pennyworth,’ and ‘A Murder at the End of the World,’ Emma Corrin makes their MCU debut as Cassandra Nova, a mutant with powerful telepathic powers who is the twin sister of X-Men founder and leader Professor Charles Xavier. Corrin said that the effect of the siblings’ history on Cassandra is what impacted them about the role.

Emma Corrin: What really piqued my interest with joining the ‘Deadpool’ universe in particular, [was] bringing Cassandra to it, obviously, with everything that we know and love about her origin story and her relationship with Charles Xavier. That was the key into it for me, because I think the term “villain” is a great one and we all know that villains have the most fun. But I think that, for me, I really needed to find a key into what made her tick, and find that side to empathize with her. For me, that was her relationship with her brother, and I think you will see in this film, through her interactions with Wolverine, that’s explored with, obviously, the history of the X-Men and everything. So that was really fun. There was a lot of scope. It was a big sandbox. We all got to try out loads of different things. Cassandra in particular, Shawn and I realized, as we were going through the film, who she would become, and that was a really fun process.

Shawn Levy also expressed how delighted he was with the work of Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen in the film.

Shawn Levy: When you have Emma Corrin and Matthew Macfadyen playing the two major supporting roles in a movie, you have such a gift, because they’re both such nimble, unpredictable actors, and that’s what we wanted from the beginning for Mr. Paradox and for Cassandra Nova. So really, the way that Emma and Matthew blessed this movie with their talent and their dexterity, that really defined it.

9) Matthew Macfadyen Admitted He Didn’t Watch ‘Loki’ Before Shooting ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’

The Time Variance Authority (TVA) was introduced in the Marvel/Disney+ series ‘Loki,’ where it was originally protecting the one Sacred Timeline. By the end of ‘Loki’ Season 2, it’s the TVA’s job to protect all the timelines. Matthew Macfadyen admitted (rather sheepishly) that he didn’t watch ‘Loki’ before taking on the role of ambitious TVA agent Mr. Paradox.

Matthew Macfadyen: I have to say that I haven’t, shamefully, yet. But in a funny way, that’s great, because I could just come to it pretty fresh. It’s a very complicated world, the TVA. Mr. Paradox is an interesting character, he’s a slightly angry, jangly, middle management apparatchik who’s ambitious for greater things…I just dove in and hoped for the best.

10) Marvel Didn’t Push Back On Deadpool’s Trademark Raunchiness And Violence

Although the first two ‘Deadpool’ films are gory, raunchy, (hilariously) nasty and frequently inappropriate, Ryan Reynolds said that the filmmakers did not get any limits imposed on them for ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ by the normally family-friendly Marvel and Disney.

Ryan Reynolds: The story would be so fun if it was us against them, and “the studio didn’t want to do this.” This is so boring, but they were incredible partners from the get-go. Partly because I think Shawn and I also like to make movies responsibly. We like to hold ourselves to account and self-govern as much as possible. But also, they understood what this was from the beginning. Kevin always saw it…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.

What is the plot of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’?

Six years after the events of ‘Deadpool 2’, Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) lives a quiet life, having left his time as the mercenary Deadpool behind him, until the Time Variance Authority (TVA)—a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline—pulls him into a new mission. With his home universe facing an existential threat, Wilson reluctantly joins an even more reluctant Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) on a mission that will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Who is in the cast of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’?

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 Marvel.

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