“Deadpool & Wolverine” Stunt Coordinator & Second Unit Director George Cottle on the Comically Ultra-Violent Style
“Suck it Fox, I’m going to Disney World!” So declares our favorite fourth-wall-breaking antihero, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), in Shawn Levy’s hilariously meta threequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, which is back in the #1 spot domestically for the fourth weekend. With Deadpool’s signature brand of acerbic sarcasm and self-deprecating humor, the raunchy action comedy often references the aftermath of the 2019 Disney-Fox mega-merger, which led to the titular duo landing under the Disney banner. After six long years, the deliriously ludicrous, potty-mouthed mercenary is back; this time, in a team-up made in Marvel heaven, [spoilers] he resurrects longtime rival—Hugh Jackman’s mercurial adamantium-clawed Wolverine—from the dead to help him save his own universe from extinction.
A veteran of Marvel films including Black Panther and Spider-man: Far from Home, second unit director and supervising stunt coordinator George Cottle is in awe of the truly collaborative effort on the most anticipated Marvel team-up since the Avengers films. “I’ve never had such a collaborative effort on a movie. Shawn and the editors [Shane Reid and Dean Zimmerman] were so welcoming in the editing suite. I think it really paid dividends. We’d be watching a clip, and then get up and fight each other in front of the screen to brainstorm ideas to make it even better—maybe if we do this, how about if he grabbed his head and smashed it here? Someone’s videoing it while we do that; the next day, we’re doing that sequence on set. It was so much fun!” Cottle remarks. “It was a true highlight for me, being in an editing room with a director of Shawn’s caliber, and watching the editors work their magic.”
We spoke to Cottle about honing the stunts, harnessing the madness, and how you film two superheroes having an epic brawl inside a Honda Odyssey.
What’s unique about the Deadpool films is their appeal beyond the core comic book and diehard MCU fans. Did you grow up reading the comic books?
No, but many on my stunt team are huge comic book fans, and they were losing their minds. They really appreciated how true, loyal, and respectful Hugh, Ryan, and Shawn were towards the comics, really leaning into what the fans wanted. For instance, it didn’t occur to me that Wolverine had never worn the correct suit [in the previous films], which blew my mind.
You’ve said this movie is the clash of two fighting titans. What were some of the early conversations about choreographing the action?
Early on, I knew everything was going to be based around fights—there aren’t any big car chases, water, or aerial sequences. So, I pulled together an amazing fight team that could truly elevate the fights. The incredibly talented fight coordinator, Alex Kyshkovych, was also Ryan’s double—he was a double on the first two Deadpool movies. He’s a massive comic book fan and absolutely loves Deadpool. Sometimes, it’s hard to get him out of the suit. [Laughs] Dan Stevens, Hugh’s double who has doubled for him on five of the X-Men/Wolverine movies, has an incredible understanding of the way Wolverine or Hugh moves. They have a great personal connection with their actors. Over the many years, they’ve talked about, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to do this stunt or that? Or, on page 32 of issue four of the comics, he did this!’ They geek out over it. They’re two of the best fight performers in the world. So, having their knowledge was priceless.
On a very stunt-centric film like this, how many stunt coordinators did you have?
Especially on such a massive undertaking, I almost needed three of me to make it all work. So, I brought on two more—Liang Yang [from the epic bathroom brawl in Mission: Impossible – Fallout] and [assistant stunt coordinator] Andy Lister. Just watch both of their showreels on YouTube, it’ll blow your mind. We also had Colin Follenweider, who has worked with me for many years and worked on endless X-Men movies. They did such a world-class job. I’ve known both Liang and Andy for 20 years, they’re sword fight and knife fight legends. Once I brought them into the mix with Alex and with Dan, I mean, the fights speak for themselves.
How long was prep on this movie?
12 or 14 weeks of prep before shooting. It was a very short schedule—we only had about 70 days. But halfway through, the movie got shut down because of the SAG strike. I think the main unit was low 70s and the second unit was 30-40 days.
The opening sequence got me fired up! All the meta-jokes about the Disney-Fox acquisition made it so much funnier, especially since in a previous career, I was at Fox during the acquisition and transition period.
No way! It’s great that it resonated so much with you. Ryan and Shawn wanted an early proof of concept of the opening sequence and Alex ran with it. We had daily calls about different ideas and he would video and edit it, then nail it down with Ryan and Shawn. Once we got to the UK, we had eight weeks of prep with the stunt team.
Was the sublime dance portion always meant to be in the opening sequence?
That came in after principal photography ended. It almost feels like it could’ve been a Ryan Reynolds lightbulb moment of how to make it even more amazing. They did that during 4-5 days of reshoots in New York. Originally it wasn’t going to be that song [NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’]. Shawn and Ryan were in the editing room every day with the editors fine-tuning. It was a labor of love; they wouldn’t stop until it was perfect.
It’s one of the most effective opening sequences—not only does it seize your attention right out of the gate—it sets Deadpool’s trademark comically hyper-violent tone.
Shawn and Ryan encouraged me to lean into the violence—show us every crazy or violent idea, and be as out there as you want. When it’s PG or PG-13, you can only do so many headbutts, show so much blood, you can’t stab people where you see skin. But Deadpool was the other end of the spectrum—it was how violent can you make this? When Deadpool played with the adamantium claws and started stabbing himself and then stabbed one guy in the back and the other in the front—we came up with that. I thought there was no way they’d let us do it, but they thought it was hilarious. Ryan and Shawn’s ability to read the audience and give them what they want is fascinating. I was lucky enough to sit in the editing room and just watch them put pieces of the puzzle together. It was such a treat.
Great action cinema gives fans something they haven’t seen before like two 6’2” superheroes beating the crap out of each other inside a Honda Odyssey minivan. Was that really shot inside a minivan?
That was one of my favorites! It was Shawn’s idea. A lot of the fights here are in big, open spaces. So why not go the other end of the spectrum—have a fight in a tiny, confined space? It was all shot in a car that size, we did not build an oversized car. We cut out some of the panels just to get the big movie cameras into those positions, but the parameters and the fight always stayed within the dimensions of a real Honda Odyssey.
What went into choreographing something so wildly kinetic in that confined space?
Ryan and Hugh are both big guys, especially in those suits. We padded the insides because they and their stunt doubles were shooting inside that car for over a week. Shawn shot it and we did some pickups on second unit. The blood, sweat, and tears that went into it, everybody brought their A-game. Hugh, Ryan, Alex, and Dan just crushed it. And the DP George Richmond was in there with them too. They shot a lot BTS for that—I can’t wait for that to get out. We shot that pretty early on, so the high bar was set for the rest of the shoot.
Check out part two of our interview with Cottle, including what went into choreographing the top-secret cameos!
For more on Deadpool & Wolverine, check out these stories:
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Costume Designer Graham Churchyard on Bringing Back Logan’s Yellow Suit
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Screenwriters Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick on Resurrecting Wolverine
“Deadpool & Wolverine” Co-Writer Zeb Wells on Scripting Marvel’s Raunchiest, Wildest Film Ever
Featured image: (L-R): Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios’ DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.
