The Deadpool movies are absolutely packed with references to to fellow superhero flicks, from Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice to Avengers: Infinity War, not to mention the various (sometimes literal) shots fired at X-Men Origins: Wolverine. But the pop culture nods certainly aren’t limited to the comic book genre, with one Deadpool 2 joke calling out the parallels between two standout numbers in a pair of popular musicals.
The movies in question are Disney’s inescapable Frozen and the 1983 Barbara Streisand hit Yentl, with the latter featuing in a scene where Wade Wilson and his fiancée Vanessa are sat down together watching Streisand perform her rendition of “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” On the the Deadpool 2 audio commentary track, co-writer Rhett Reese explains how star Ryan Reynolds found there to be something strangely familiar about the melody of this particular song.
“Ryan has a great ear for picking out when one song sounds too much like another song, where someone might have plagiarized somebody.”
Reynolds himself goes on to elaborate on how he became aware of the similarities between “Papa, Can You Hear Me?” and a certain track from a more recent film, saying:
“I had watched Yentl on Turner Classic Movies a couple of weeks before, and I’ve watched Frozen 700 times with my daughter. Which is weird because Frozen is my favorite movie and Yentl is hers.”
The actor and Deadpool 2 co-writer concludes by assuring the writers of Princess Anna’s song that no ill will is meant, explaining:
“But I had noticed that the song, ‘Do You Want to Build a Snowman?’ and Yentyl‘s ‘Papa Can You Hear Me?’ sound suspiciously alike. [laughs] Some poor, hardworking songwriter’s gonna go, ‘What? I didn’t… I didn’t mean it.’ I know.”
You can catch all this, plus maybe a few references and Easter eggs that you might’ve missed the first time, when Deadpool 2 arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on August 21st.