Deadpool & Wolverine: Shawn Levy Talks Cameos and Legacy

Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy explained how they decided on what cameos to include. Now that the movie’s been in theater for a few weeks, the gloves are off on spoilers.  Levy talked to The Official Marvel Podcast about the MCU feature and their focus on legacy when it came to the cameos. Yes, getting Channing Tatum, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Garner, and Dafne Keen into one place was amazing. But, all of these characters had something in common.They never really got an ending. Deadpool & Wolverine managed to send them off in style. (That is, if this is the last we see of the ‘Anarchy Avengers’…) Check out what else Levy had to say right here down below.

“The vibe on set was a party. We wanted to play with this theme of ‘legacy.’ So, we started thinking of characters we knew who never quite got their ending,” Levy revealed. “When we had all these characters together and you have X-23, and you have Blade, and you have Gambit and Electra. Everyone was so happy and grateful.”

“When you have people like Channing Tatum who had wanted to play Gambit for 10 years or more. And, this is that moment,” he added. “Everyone was so grateful and happy to be there. So we got the work done and we had a lot of fun. but there was just a feeling of ‘wow, what a privilege to do this job.’ That’s something I’ll never forget.”

Getting These Cameos Was Easy

On the topic of cameos, Shawn Levy has had a lot to say. Talking to Variety, the director revealed that he and Ryan Reynolds had reached out to most of these actors before any of their representatives heard a peep. What’s more, almost all of them said yes at that early stage without having to hear much more about what the story was. There’s no doubt that the nostalgic pull of seeing Blade, Electra, X-23 and Gambit helped power Deadpool & Wolverine up to over 1 billion dollars at the box office.

“With pretty much no exceptions, every surprise casting in this movie came down to Ryan or I reaching out to the actor before lawyers and before agents [were involved],” director Shawn Levy told Variety. “It literally was us asking and invariably people saying ‘yes.’”

“Cavillrine, which Ryan coined,” Levy said. “I knew it was undeniable as soon as Ryan came up with that term. He said ‘yes’ right away because he knew it would be subversive and playful. It was also with a lot of affection for him and his body of work, and playing with his legacy as a DC hero now that he’s appearing as a variant of a Marvel hero.” 

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