How ‘Deadpool 2’s Big Celebrity Cameos Were Pulled Off

Warning – this post contains massive SPOILERS!

Deadpool 2 isn’t just packed with pop-culture and geek culture references and gags – it also has a lineup of some pretty high-profile celebrity cameos!

The two biggest A-list cameos in the film are no doubt Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Damon actually appears first in the film, playing one of two redneck characters having a very out of character conversation about toilet paper strategy, when Cable first arrives in the past. Pitt has a much more obvious cameo, appearing as invisible X-Force member Vanisher, who is revealed to be Pitt for a brief moment, when he finally appears while being electrocuted by some power lines he parachutes into.

During the press junket for Deadpool 2, we here at Comicbook.com had the chance to speak with director David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), and asked him just how he was able to pull off getting such big names into a film like this. According to Leitch:

“Look there’s a lot of goodwill to the first movie, and that’s kudos to Tim Miller and Ryan, and Rhett and Paul. People love this universe. So knocking on the door of some familiar faces that I know was like a perfect balance to getting a favor or two.”

If you don’t already know, Leitch isn’t just one of the biggest action directors to come around in the last few years: he’s also been one of the industry’s top stunt performers and coordinators since the ’90s. Leitch has also been the go-to stunt double guy for Brad Pitt for much of his career, appearing in many of the actor’s big films, like Fight Club, The Mexican, Spy Game, Ocean’s Eleven, Troy, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Needless to say, he’s close enough with Pitt for that to probably have been an easy ask.

Aside from being around Damon in Ocean’s Eleven, Leitch also joined the Bourne franchise in the late 2000s with Bourne Ultimatum and also worked on the Jeremy Renner spinoff, Bourne Legacy. Again, the time working in that franchise no doubt got him close enough to Damon to ask this favor – which Damon probably embraced wholeheartedly, after already having a bit of fun with a surprise cameo in last fall’s Thor: Ragnarok.

All in all, Deadpool 2 pulling off these two massive celebrity appearances is just a small footnote in its lineup of surprises, which also include some pretty big superhero crossover appearances.

Deadpool 2 is now in theaters. The X-Men movie universe will continue when X-Men: Dark Phoenix opens February 14, 2019, followed by The New Mutants on August 2, 2019.