While the Deadpool franchise is known for its dark, crude and irreverent humor, apparently it was only when the character’s co-creator, Rob Liefeld, invited Russell Crowe to read for a part in Deadpool 2 that he well and truly crossed the line.
At least that’s what we gather from Liefeld’s statements at the Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con, when the writer detailed a seemingly innocent comment made on Twitter and the subsequent backlash.
“One night before I went to bed, I didn’t know Russell Crowe was on Twitter, and I stupidly tweeted to Russell Crowe — not ever thinking he’d answer me — and I go, ‘Hey Russell, you should read for Cable!’”
But it seems that Liefeld forgot to take into account the fragile egos at play when dealing with Hollywood’s biggest stars.
“That didn’t turn out very well, I got yelled at a lot, because I woke up — because he’s in Australia — to Russell Crowe saying, ‘Read for it?!’, and my manager said, ‘Yeah… Russell Crowe doesn’t read for parts, Rob. You kind of insulted him.’”
Such was the supposed insolence of Liefeld’s Tweet that even the studio reportedly stepped in to give him a good telling off.
“I’m like, ‘I’m sorry! They just haven’t picked Cable yet so I’m just putting it out there.’ And then my phone rings, so some Fox people may or may not have yelled at me for an hour.”
Given the commercial and critical success that the sequel turned out to be, Crowe might’ve done well to get involved. After all, his last attempt to integrate into a major franchise didn’t exactly go as planned, with 2017’s The Mummy failing to jump-start the cinematic universe it so clearly wanted.
Instead, the role of Cable ended up going to Josh Brolin, and while his performance in Deadpool 2 was recently met with some criticism from the actor himself, most viewers are pretty happy to know that he’ll be returning in the planned X-Force movie.
