“Deadpool & Wolverine” Editors on Shaping Wolverine’s Masterpiece Emotional Explosion—in a Minivan
Who wouldn’t want to watch Hugh Jackman deliver a satisfying performance? Better yet, let’s dress him up in one of the most iconic comic book hero costumes of all time and throw him in a minivan in some random forest with an intemperately smart-mouthed passenger. What could go wrong? Apparently, everything when it comes to Deadpool & Wolverine, this summer’s massive box office hit about two dudes on a world-saving multiverse road trip from director Shawn Levy (Stranger Things).
The scene in mention happens after our heroes convince a psychotic supervillain to let them go. They’re riding high and very possibly on their way to saving their worlds. But Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) slips up and asks Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) what will he do “if they can fix his world?” The “if” is what Wolverine hangs on, considering the entire reason he was on this insane mission with the lunatic Deadpool was that he was promised he could fix his world. It turns out, as Deadpool desperately explains, it was more of “an educated wish” that the powers that be, in this case, the Time Variance Authority, an organization that controls timelines in the multiverse, would be able to fix Wolverine’s broken past. The flub spirals into one of Wolverine’s most emotionally charged scenes in the film before spilling over into one of the most iconic fight sequences in Marvel history. Shaping the sequence were editors Dean Zimmerman and Shane Reid.
“The special sauce of the movie is Hugh being able to deliver those performances, same with Ryan, because Ryan can do it as well in a heartbeat,” Zimmerman says. “Then, Shawn will be able to pull out these performances from these actors and also write stuff like that. I think that’s where the uniqueness of this movie really took off.”
In navigating the project, Reid says, “Something that I was excited about reading the script, and I’m sure Dean was too, was how we were going to juggle pop culture, music, comedy, action, drama, stakes, visual effects, and then ground the performances. That’s a lot of navigation and a lot of trial and error. And I can’t really imagine a better challenge – it’s what I love.”
The on-screen chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman is undeniable. Off-screen, it’s more of the same. Their friendship dates back to 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, all a part of Wolverine’s pretty twisted backstory. Below, the editors share how they navigated that chemistry into that masterful minimalist minivan set piece where Wolverine drops the rhetorical hammer on Deadpool after finding out he was lied to, calling him out for being the most ridiculous, most childish, most pathetic curse on humanity (for the fact that Deadpool just won’t die), oh, and the fact that when Wolverine begs Deadpool to say just one more word so he can go berserk on him, Deadpool’s choice is, of course, “gubernatorial.”
Zimmerman: Shane had cut that scene, and when I first saw it, the confidence of staying in that shot of Hugh delivering that performance took, and pardon the expression, a lot of balls. Most people would think it’s sitting there too long and be like, I gotta cut to the star. But is the star Deadpool, or is the star Wolverine? We don’t know. And I can let Shane speak to how he cut that, but those are those balances of where you can get Hugh or Ryan in these vulnerable moments and be able to get down to what essentially is one of the most raucous comedies and action films to be done to date and have these very poignant moments of grounded realism and emotionality.
Reid: I love the silence after Hugh’s speech. It’s uncomfortable, and we let the audience sit in that discomfort for a minute. There’s a real power to that in the filmmaking. Dean cut to the fire pit scene with Wolverine as well as the diner scene with him and Deadpool. And those are anchor drama scenes, and they were so well-assembled and adored by everybody. Those were the first scenes that I remember being shared around like, whoa, look at what we have here because this film’s obviously funny, and we obviously have the action, but look at the power of these scenes.
It’s like subverting the audience’s expectations. Let’s sit with this moment, and let’s just watch Hugh, who is a fucking incredible actor, act and not wink and be real and be sincere. And then on the other side of it, you have—I don’t know if it’s underappreciated or not—but can you name me one actor who’s delivering a comedic performance like Ryan is in this film? So you have like these powerhouses that have their own abilities and their own talents. And since they’re friends, and since Shawn [Levy] is their friend, they’re all pushing each other to be the best of themselves.
And I think that’s why audiences love it. I always felt like a film that looks like it is fun to make is one that audiences connect with. And that’s what this film felt like. It was pure. If you could see the other takes of Ryan and Hugh opposite each other in the car, every time it ended, it would be like a beat of silence, and then Ryan would just be like, ‘F**k dude, Jesus Christ. Your spit is in my face. I love it.’ There was such a joy going on there for each other as sparring partners, and that kind of chemistry leaks out into the world.
Zimmerman: And for that scene to have that grounded, powerful moment, then cut to this vicious, bloody fight in the car, set to “You’re The One That I Want” by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, is so crazy. That transition has to be perfect in order to do that right. And that perfect transition is Hugh giving us this amazing performance, and then you cut to Ryan, and there’s just a pause, and he goes, ‘I’m going to fight you now.’ That’s what breaks the audience out of this emotional moment.
Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters now.
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Featured image: Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
