Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine was a massive success, breaking box-office records and reinvigorating excitement for the MCU at a time when its momentum seemed to be waning. However, the path to creating the film’s excellent script was anything but smooth. According to director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds, the project faced significant hurdles during pre-production, and the film was nearly shelved entirely.
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A Script That Didn’t Write Itself
Though Deadpool & Wolverine flows with a natural, lively energy, Levy emphasized that this belied the grueling writing process. “There’s this presumption, because the movie has a bouncy, naturalistic flow to it, that we were just improvising or figuring it out on set,” Levy told IndieWire. “Certainly, there’s a little of that, but we refused to go into production without a script that was 95 percent reflective of the movie everyone’s seen. It was the result of a long, long writing process.”
Reynolds echoed this sentiment, describing the pressure they faced. “Going into the movie, we felt we had a lot to prove to Marvel and Disney. It’s the first big Fox property, after Disney bought the studio, to be R-rated. We had to write a movie that was a four-quadrant R-rated movie. That’s a hard thing to do.”
Reynolds likened the process to poetry, referencing John Keats: “Keats talks about all the stitching and unstitching you do to make it feel like a moment’s thought. And that’s what this was.”
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Building the Backbone of the Story
Levy revealed that the team spent seven months just developing the story before tackling the jokes. “The jokes are the least of our worries,” he said. “We just write a drama with the stakes that a drama would have. Once we have that narrative backbone, we build the comedy into it.”
Reynolds explained the painstaking process of refining the humor. “Comedy is difficult to get right, especially in the writing. You have to write, rewrite, and rewrite again. Then, on set, you have to listen to the movie and see what it’s telling you, because it’s yelling at you.”
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This meticulous approach was made even more challenging by the conditions during filming. “I’m in a Deadpool suit. Shawn’s in a parka, in the winter, and we’ve got our laptops. It’s not glamorous,” Reynolds quipped.
When the Film Almost Didn’t Happen
The challenges in blending the gritty, irreverent tone of Deadpool with the often shiny, high-stakes feel of the MCU nearly derailed the project. Levy admitted they were close to giving up. “We were on the cusp of failure. I was ready to tell Marvel and Disney, ‘You know what, guys, it’s not happening. Let’s put it to the side.’”
Hugh Jackman’s Game-Changing Call
Just as the project seemed doomed, Hugh Jackman stepped in to save the day. “We had that Zoom call, and you can’t make this up,” Reynolds recounted. “Hugh pulled over on the side of the road and called. I’ve known Hugh for 16, 17 years. He said it was this gut thing: He wanted to come back as Wolverine.”
This moment was particularly serendipitous for Reynolds, whose original pitch to Marvel five years earlier had been for a Deadpool & Wolverine movie. “At the time, Hugh had just finished Logan, which was a beautiful masterpiece. He didn’t feel like it was right then, and I respected that. But five years later, it felt like the world was speaking to us. We should maybe listen.”
A Triumph Born from Perseverance
With Jackman on board and a refined script in hand, Deadpool & Wolverine became the smash hit that fans had hoped for. The film’s success is a testament to the hard work and determination of its creative team, who refused to settle for anything less than excellence.
Now streaming on Disney+, Deadpool & Wolverine not only brings the “Merc with a Mouth” and Wolverine together in an unforgettable adventure but also showcases the power of collaboration and persistence in filmmaking.
For fans, the film is more than just a blockbuster — it’s a celebration of two iconic characters, brought to life by a team that refused to give up, even when the odds seemed stacked against them.
