Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy have brought yet another spectacle to the Deadpool universe, bringing back Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) into his universe. However, Deadpool & Wolverine took months of brainstorming from the filmmaker before eventually arriving on the big screen.
While many have already witnessed the magic that the trio brought together, Levy shed light on the ideation process, reflecting on how the team was ready to admit defeat before one thing changed it all – Jackman.
Shawn Levy Reflected on the Roadblocks While Ideating Deadpool & Wolverine
In an appearance on the Happy Sad Podcast, the film director delved into the development of the R-rated MCU movie, where he faced creative block while figuring out a unique idea for the now-released movie.
Shawn Levy got candid about the movie’s development, stating that he, Ryan Reynolds, Paul Wernick, Rhett Reese, and Zeb Wells were brainstorming ideas for the movie for at least “three, four months.”
He reflected that the team was struggling to curate an idea that would be Wade Wilson-centric, bringing OG characters from the Deadpool Universe yet also fit seamlessly into the expansive MCU.
We had ideas that were obviously Wade Wilson-centric…some various villain ideas and other dimensions he was going through. We weren’t cracking it.
He further reflected on the process, stating that he had been connecting with Kevin Feige to discuss the idea, but things were not looking good. He added,
We literally had this weekly Zoom for months with Kevin where we would tell him some ideas, and he would tell us some ideas, and we just collectively, every week, would hang up that Zoom and feel like, ‘You know what? That idea feels too big to be authentic Deadpool. This idea feels too small to be worthy of this entrance into the MCU.’ We weren’t cracking it.
Given that the first two entries in the Wade Wilson-led movies yielded remarkable results, the pressure to deliver something exceptional was immense. Settling for anything less would have been undeniable since it would tarnish both Deadpool’s legacy and the MCU’s standards.
A Call from Hugh Jackman Became a Game-Changer
Since their ideas weren’t up to the mark, the actor-director duo contemplated holding the project to avoid compromising its quality. They were preparing to tell the MCU boss about keeping the movie on the sidelines.
He told in the same interview,
Ryan and I had this big watershed moment where we said to each other, ‘Maybe we just got to admit to Kevin that now’s not the moment. Maybe we need to come back to this in a year or two because we can’t do this if we don’t have an undeniable idea.’
Just as they thought about admitting their defeat, a game-changing phone call from Hugh Jackman (Logan/Wolverine actor) completely turned the tables. The director revealed that Reynolds, who plays Merc with the Mouth, received a call from his on-screen buddy with an unexpected proposition.
It was the same morning when they were about to suggest shelving the project to Feige for a few years. He continued,
That Zoom was going to happen, I think Hugh Jackman knows the date, I want to say like August 12, 2022. On that morning, Hugh called and said, ‘I don’t know if you’re shooting yet, I don’t know if you’re writing, but I want in.’
So, when they connected with the MCU boss via Zoom, they quickly shared the details with him.
So when we did that Zoom with Kevin, he was like, ‘Okay, what do we got?’ We said, ‘Well, we got an interesting phone call,’ and everything changed on a dime. The movie instantly had its why.
Thanks to Jackman, the 2024 movie got its why factor. As for the actor, he announced he was coming out of his Wolverine retirement after sacrificing himself in 2017’s Logan. It grossed over $823 million globally, as per The Numbers.
Deadpool & Wolverine is running in theatres.
