Deadpool 3 Director Reveals Key Star Wars Moment That Inspired New Marvel Movie

Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy is pointing to Star Wars as a major source of inspiration for what he hopes to achieve in his Deadpool and Wolverine team-up film. In a new interview, Levy talks about a specific moment in Star Wars – specifically in the third Original Trilogy film Return of the Jedi - that captured his imagination and inspired his goals as a director: 

"I went to the theater again and again to see Return of the Jedi. I vividly remember the scene in which Luke is hiding from Vader in the Emperor's room and Vader gives the speech that ends with 'If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps your sister will.' It was dead quiet. Pin-drop silence. Suddenly Vader has pushed the wrong button. Luke comes screaming out of the shadows and just goes to town in a lightsaber battle against Vader. The way that felt: The forty seconds of stillness from the audience, then the spectacle and emotion, is seared not just in my eyeballs but in my heart..."

Levy went on to tease Esquire with exactly how he's now incorporating that scene from Return of the Jedi into Deadpool 3: 

"I'm now making Deadpool 3, the production of which was paused because of the actors' strike. For one key scene in the movie, I said to my stunt and action team, 'Guys, this is the Jedi moment.' I pulled up that scene of Vader and Luke on my phone and restudied how it was photographed, how it was blocked, the framing, the tempo. The keen Star Wars fan will see the shot in my Deadpool movie that was inspired by a moment that I saw in a theater decades ago. That's a forever memory. And that's a treasure."

In recent weeks Levy has said a very interesting mix of things about Deadpool 3: he's confirmed the movie is 'very much part of the MCU,' but that it will still have a hard-R rating and the meta-humor that fans of the Deadpool movie franchise expect. At the same time, Levy also says that Deadpool 3 has a "F-kload more" heart than most Marvel fans would expect. If that all wasn't enough, Levy has teased that Deadpool 3 has landed some epic cameos – with many Marvel fans wondering if Taylor Swift isn't going to finally make that appearance as Dazzler. 

For now, Deadpool 3 has lost its original release date of Feburary 2024. No new release date has been decided.