Fans of the Merc with a Mouth were worried when it was revealed the other month that Deadpool 2 was going back before the cameras for some sizable reshoots so close to its arrival in cinemas. As it happens, though, it seems Fox made the right move, as the sequel to the 2016 surprise smash hit has gone down a treat with critics. But what exactly did those reshoots change?
Star Josh Brolin, who’s set to bring time traveling cyborg Cable to life in the movie, has confirmed that the additional filming added in much more of his character. This was reported before, as test screenings apparently left audiences frustrated that Nathan Summers appeared so little. Brolin revealed that, though they did give Cable more time on screen, the character will be so important to the story that it’ll feel like he’s in it even when he’s not there.
“There was so much emphasis on Cable that you forgot that it was an introductory movie for Cable. We go into X-Force and Cable’s a massive presence in X-Force, he’s the leader of X-Force, and Deadpool’s a part of X-Force, so it’s a very introductory film for him. There was so much emphasis put on him, that when you go ‘we gotta do reshoots because test screenings loved that character’, but having done True Grit with 7 minutes of screen time, but you’re talking about him the whole time, he feels like he’s in the entire movie. This, you’re talking about Cable so much, you feel like he’s in more of the movie than he is. But I think we just needed a little more, and we needed to tighten up a few things. There were a couple of fight scenes that we just made more complete.”
The aforementioned report also claimed that the reshoots were adding in more of Cable’s X-Force teammate Domino, as played by Zazie Beetz. You might remember that the casting of the African-American actress in a typically Caucasian role caused a bit of a stir when Beetz was first announced to be joining Deadpool 2, though fan reaction quickly became widely positive.
On that note, Brolin went on to say that Beetz only returned for “four days of reshoots,” but promised that viewers will “love her” once they see the movie.
“It was four days of reshoots, something like that. Also it’s about personalising the character, and about how loyal you stay to the comic books. It’s a different look for Domino, and people were very reactive. But now, when people see it, they love her.”
Regardless of how much Cable features in Deadpool 2, we should see much more of him in subsequent films. After all, Brolin has already let slip that he’s planning to star in four movies as the character, and we’ll see the first of these when David Leitch’s sequel arrives in theaters on May 18th.
