As if he had a time machine straight out of a Marvel film, Hugh Jackman foresaw the friendship between Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds years before they ever met.
Levy recalls the “X-Men” actor bringing up Reynolds on the set of his 2011 sci-fi film “Real Steel,” which starred Jackman.
“He literally told me that if I ever worked with Ryan Reynolds, I'd probably never stop,” the Montreal-born director says on a video call from New York.
“Hugh had this feeling that Ryan and I matched up just right.”
Levy says he went on to forge a “creative brotherhood” with Reynolds, directing the Vancouver-born actor in 2021’s action-comedy “Free Guy” and 2022’s sci-fi adventure “The Adam Project.”
He says Reynolds handpicked Levy to direct and co-write “Deadpool & Wolverine” — the third movie in his hit Deadpool franchise and the first from Marvel Studios after its parent company Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. It’s out Friday.
“I hate to say it, but I do think our Canadianness is part of (our connection),” says Levy, who’s helmed family comedies including 2006’s “Night at the Museum” and produced the sci-fi behemoth “Stranger Things” for Netflix.
“We both feel the privilege of these jobs we get to do. We have a shared humility and civility and there's tremendous respect for each other. We really love building movies designed for audience joy. We also are grinders. We love to work hard.”
Evidently, they love to play hard too. Levy says he, Reynolds and Jackman are close friends in real life, and the press tour for “Deadpool & Wolverine” “has basically been like a boy’s trip paid for by Disney.”
At the film's Canadian premiere in Toronto on Tuesday, the trio took over a downtown multiplex where they also signed autographs and met fans, many decked out in costumes for the sneak preview.
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The film sees Reynolds suit up again as the merc with a mouth, this time joining forces with Jackman in his long-awaited return as iconic X-Men superhero Wolverine, who was killed off in 2017’s “Logan.”
Set a few years after 2018’s “Deadpool 2,” the titular Canadian anti-superhero is down on his luck, fresh off bombing a job interview with the Avengers and being dumped by his girlfriend. But when he’s tapped by interdimensional agency the Time Variance Authority, led by Matthew Macfadyen’s smarmy Mr. Paradox, to mercy kill his own withering universe within the multiverse, he refuses and recruits an especially cranky iteration of fellow Canuck Wolverine to save the day.
When they aren’t squabbling and tearing each other to shreds, Deadpool and Wolverine are teaming up against Emma Corrin’s Cassandra Nova, ruler of the Void, a purgatory between multiverses the protagonists find themselves trapped in.
Although Reynolds had been pitching a Deadpool-Wolverine team-up for years, Jackman was initially hesitant, wanting to preserve the legacy of his adamantium-clawed character. However, Levy notes the chance to collaborate with friends ultimately swayed the Australian actor.
“The three of us have so much trust and affection and we spend a lot of time together off screen,” he says.
“I know Hugh had this epiphany to come back, and I think he knew he was coming back with friends, which would mean not only a fun experience, but he trusted his buddies to protect the legacy of Logan and to protect him in this return.”
Fan expectations are high for “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Not only is the filmmaking crew — which includes returning screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese — responsible for bridging the worlds of the Avengers and the formerly Fox-owned X-Men for the first time, but many hope the film will recharge the MCU after it experienced rare box-office flops with last year’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantamania” and “The Marvels.”
Levy’s answer to the discourse surrounding the movie is to address it head-on via Deadpool’s many fourth wall-shattering asides. Early on, the merc quips to Wolverine: “Welcome to the MCU. You’re joining at a bit of a low point.”
"I don't know that Marvel needs saving,” says Levy.
“Obviously, they've had a few stumbles and misses lately, and because it's Deadpool, we get to name that. We get to poke fun at that. And to Marvel's credit, they let us make fun of them because they know that that's the Deadpool spirit. But the pressure I feel about Marvel is not really as intense as what I feel towards the fans because I'm one of them. I love these characters. I have reverence for their legacy.”
Levy says he feels especially attached to the film’s protagonists as both have Canadian origin stories — Deadpool hails from Regina, while Wolverine was born in northern Alberta.
“Watch with your eyes peeled, because the nods to our homeland are everywhere. You'll see the allegiance to Canada spread all over this movie,” he says.
But Levy says that more than anything, the film is a celebration of friendship.
“Obviously, Deadpool and Wolverine are at each other's throats for a lot of the movie, but what people don't quite know yet is the degree to which the movie is ultimately about friendship. And it was made by friends,” he says.
“So you have the warmth of this friendship off-screen that eventually finds its way into the DNA of the movie. I think the warm-heartedness of the movie might be its most unexpected aspect, but it's the aspect that Ryan and Hugh and I are most proud of.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2024.
