Cavill, Henry

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    ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Director Shawn Levy on Those Surprise Cameos

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    Shawn Levy explains the thinking behind specific cameos, what was saved from discarded scripts and how they made that end-credits tribute to Fox.Though the director Shawn Levy has spent the last several months promoting his new blockbuster, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” there was so much he couldn’t say until now.“This conversation will be tantamount to therapy for me,” Levy joked last week as he signed on to a video call to discuss cameos and plot elements that had to be kept hidden until after the film’s juggernaut opening weekend. (Major spoilers follow.)Though trailers sold the movie as a team-up between Ryan Reynolds’s meta mercenary, Deadpool, and Hugh Jackman’s surly mutant, Wolverine, the starry supporting cast includes some big surprises, including Jennifer Garner as the assassin Elektra, Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter Blade and Channing Tatum as the card-tossing mutant Gambit. The film’s multiverse-spanning shenanigans also allow the return of Chris Evans, who retired his Captain America character in “Avengers: Endgame” but here reprises Johnny Storm, the “Fantastic Four” character he played back when 20th Century Fox owned key pieces of the Marvel portfolio.Levy said nearly all of those surprise cameos were hatched in Reynolds’s apartment, where much of the movie was conceived amid pie-in-the-sky brainstorming. “It was the two of us acting scenes out, passing a laptop back and forth and saying, ‘Hey, what if this?’” Levy recalled. “It invariably led to one of us texting that actor and just asking.”Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.Ryan has said that you both had trouble cracking the story before Hugh agreed to come on board. Was there anything from those early, Wolverine-less versions that you kept?A few disparate elements made it all the way through, and one of the bigger ones includes this notion of Wade going through a midlife malaise and selling used cars: This was a guy who had given up on his better self and was living a life of compromise. That survived through the Wolverine iteration of this movie, as did the imperative of having Wade’s chosen family factor in. And I remember [Paul] Wernick and [Rhett] Reese, who co-wrote the first “Deadpool” movies, pitching this idea of a Chris Evans misdirect very, very early: What if we could get Chris Evans and the audience thinks it’s Cap, but he’s actually coming back as Johnny Storm? It was such an A-plus idea that it survived every iteration of the story line.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Movies

      A Guide to Every ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Cameo

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      Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman are the stars, but they get help from a host of actors you may know from other superhero movies.“Deadpool & Wolverine” expects its audience to have a very good memory. To get the most out of the movie you have to not only be well-versed in the previous films starring the characters of the title — Ryan Reynolds’s foul-mouthed mercenary and Hugh Jackman’s gruff mutant with spiky claws — but you also should be able to recall the last 25 or so years of movies inspired by Marvel comic books. Even the ones that perhaps Marvel would like to forget.It also helps to know your Hollywood deal history. The film, directed by Shawn Levy, refers repeatedly to the fact that Disney, the owner of Marvel Studios, purchased Fox, Deadpool’s previous home. There are all sorts of appearances from previous Marvel stars thanks to a timeline-hopping plot in which Deadpool recruits Wolverine to help him save his friends from destruction. Along the way they meet heroes and baddies from various versions of this universe, many of whom have very familiar faces. Most of these characters have been discarded in what is called the Void, a wasteland of unwanted superpowered individuals first introduced in the Disney+ series “Loki.”Here’s a guide. Be warned: These are all spoilers.Chris Evans as Johnny StormWhen Chris Evans is first unveiled in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” both Deadpool and the audience assume he is playing Steve Rogers, a.k.a. Captain America. After all, Deadpool is now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But Evans is actually here as the superhero he played before Captain America: Johnny Storm, the Human Torch. Evans portrayed that Fantastic Four member in 2005’s “Fantastic Four” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” (2007). Those films were decidedly not as acclaimed or beloved as any of the Captain America flicks. So Evans’s appearance here as Johnny is both something of an intentional letdown and a more dastardly joke. It’s the first sign that “Deadpool & Wolverine” is going to be heavily referencing the pre-M.C.U. era of Fox Marvel movies.Jennifer Garner as ElektraJennifer Garner in “Elektra,” her 2005 superhero movie.20th Century FoxAfter Evans, there are three other stars who make for the most gasp-worthy cameos. The first is Jennifer Garner, back in leather as Elektra, whom she played in the 2005 movie of the same name. “Elektra,” a spinoff of “Daredevil” (2003), was not reviewed positively at the time, with The New York Times calling it a “rickety vehicle.” What about her Daredevil, played by Garner’s ex-husband, Ben Affleck? He does not show up in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” a fact acknowledged with a knowing laugh line. (Mostly, seeing Garner just made us wish for an “Alias” reboot.)Wesley Snipes as BladeWesley Snipes as Blade, a character that was better received than some of the others making cameos.New Line CinemaWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Television

      Amazon to Bring Warhammer 40,000 to the Screen, With Henry Cavill

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      Games Workshop announced this week that the popular tabletop game will come to television and film in a deal with Amazon Studios.There’s big news this week for tiny warriors.Games Workshop, the company behind Warhammer 40,000, the wildly popular tabletop game with miniature figurines, announced on Monday that it had reached a deal with Amazon Studios to bring the game to life on television and film screens.The actor Henry Cavill, known for his roles in the “Superman” franchise and as the title character on Netflix’s fantasy series “The Witcher,” is set to appear on the show and be its executive producer.The two companies had signed an agreement last year to create television programs and movies based on the Warhammer franchise, and will now move forward bringing the game’s universe to life.“All we can tell you right now is that an elite band of screenwriters, each with their own particular passion for Warhammer, is being assembled,” Games Workshop said in a statement on their website.Warhammer 40,000 was released in 1987, and in the decades since has enchanted players as they take command of small but mighty warriors for “supremacy in the grim darkness of the far future,” according to the game’s core rule book.Two or more players place their hand-painted plastic models onto terrain set in the 41st millennium — the rule book recommends a dining table or a floor — and send them into battle among aliens and supernatural creatures.Henry Cavill, who plays Geralt of Rivia in the Netflix series “The Witcher,” will be executive producer of the new Amazon Studios project.Katalin Vermes/NetflixThe game has developed a significant fan base and detailed lore throughout the years, becoming Games Workshop’s most popular product. Hundreds of novels have expanded on the Warhammer universe and mythology. It also has video game spinoffs.Much of the passion for the game, though, comes before the battle begins. Games Workshop doesn’t sell ready-to-play models for Warhammer 40,000. Instead, players purchase parts to construct, and paint in details themselves for a personal touch.Cavill is himself a fan of the game.In 2021, the actor, who has been known to construct his own personal computers, discussed his Warhammer hobby on “The Graham Norton Show.”“You have to paint them,” Cavill said. “There’s the painting-modeling side of the hobby, and then there’s the gaming side of the hobby.”The game found a new legion of fans during the pandemic, including other actors and musicians ready to battle Cavill in the fictional dystopia.Studios have been taking notice of the trend, and capitalizing on growing interest with shows like the HBO Max series “The Last of Us,” which raked in bigger audiences than some of the network’s flagship shows.Amazon Studios has bet on fantasy franchises already, with “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power,” a prequel to the J.R.R. Tolkien novels. In 2021, the studio released “The Wheel of Time,” based on the book series by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson.No details were given about anticipated release dates or the types of projects planned for the Warhammer franchise. Games Workshop said that it could be some time before the tiny warriors stand tall on a movie screen.“TV and Film production is a mammoth undertaking,” the company said. “It’s not unusual for projects to take two to three years from this point before something arrives onscreen. Still, things are now properly rolling.” More