Shawn Levy Talks ‘Deadpool 3,’ His Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman Bromance, and That Taylor Swift Rumor
Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy talked about the movie's fluid release date and his friendship with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who appear as Deadpool and Wolverine, respectively. He also addressed the rumor that Taylor Swift makes a cameo in the superhero sequel.
In an interview with the Wrap, Levy says, “I don’t even know if we officially have [a release date]. I know we were gonna be May 3. Certainly, the actors’ strike and the long pause in production have put that release date in true risk. We’ve shot half the movie. I’ve edited half the movie. We’re dying to get back to work and get this movie out next year.”
On SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Show, Levy talks about his friendship with Reynolds and Jackman as well as how the two work together. “Ryan and Hugh, and the reason they're close friends of mine is they're both extremely grounded, generous people, and I will say one of the great luxuries for me on Deadpool is that both of them, they love each other's jam,” says Levy. “Hugh is such a fan of Ryan's and Ryan knows the opportunity that it is to have Wolverine costar in a Deadpool movie, so both guys are always trying to set up the other to win. At every turn, Ryan is amazing at wanting Deadpool to lose.
“The truth is that Deadpool's awesome, but he's deeply flawed, and Wolverine is Wolverine, and so I'll just say that as a 360 creative force, Ryan operates from a place of ‘What's gonna be most satisfying to the story?' Not from a place of, ‘Well, I’ve gotta get equal number of victories and punches into the other character,' and for us as audience members — because I count myself, I'm an audience member before I'm a director — to get these two movie stars in their most iconic roles together is dream come true.”
Could Taylor Swift Appear Alongside Wolverine and Deadpool in Deadpool 3?
When asked on The Jess Cagle Show about the rumor that Taylor Swift makes a cameo in Deadpool 3, Levy says, “I love the proliferation of casting rumors on the Internet because I never have to say what's real and what's fantasy, so I'm just gonna go with the very cliché ‘no comment' on all things casting in Deadpool 3.”
Levy, who previously directed Jackman in the sci-fi movie Real Steel, says that movie — which underperformed at the box office — gets a lot of love on social media. “Whatever mild disappointment I had when the movie wasn't a blockbuster, the world has made up for it really beautifully,” says Levy. “I'm grateful for it because a lot of our heart went into that movie, but when we were shooting it, I remember Jackman saying, ‘Mate, if you ever meet Ryan Reynolds, you are gonna become best friends and if you ever worked with Ryan Reynolds, you're never gonna stop.'
“This is 11 years ago, and I always remembered it and Ryan and I met many years later and we collaborated on a movie called Free Guy a few years ago, and it was exactly as the prophet Hugh Jackman foresaw. From our very first meeting on Free Guy, Ryan and I had a simpatico and it's just been amazing now to make Deadpool 3.
“Ryan and Hugh are dear friends. The three of us — frankly whether we were on set shooting our movie, which got paused as a result of the actors' strike, or whether it's pretty much every day here in New York City where we live within a block of each other — it's a really… like who makes adult friends? Not me. Especially dudes. What guys make new friends that isn't the dad of one of their kids, like in the pickup line or wherever it is we meet people? I don't make a lot of friends, but Hugh and Ryan are definitely my two best friends, and I made these friends in adulthood and I'm very grateful for it.”
Deadpool 3 is currently scheduled for a May 3, 2024 release, but that date is likely to change.
Robert DeSalvo is a professional writer and editor with over 25 years of experience at print and online publications such as Movieline, Playboy, PCH, Fandango, and The A.V. Club. He currently lives in Los Angeles, the setting of his favorite movie, Blade Runner. Robert has interviewed dozens of actors, directors, authors, musicians, and other celebrities during his journalism career, including Brian De Palma, Nicolas Cage, Dustin Hoffman, John Waters, Sigourney Weaver, Julianne Moore, Bryan Cranston, Anne Rice, and many more. Horror movies, sci-fi, cult films as well as gothic, postpunk, and synthwave music are what Robert geeks over.
