Hugh Jackman Saved Deadpool 3 With a Phone Call
Get yourself a creative partner with as much influence as Hugh Jackman. Other than Tom Cruise singlehandedly turning Christopher McQuarrie into his personal director of choice, both on the recent “Mission: Impossible” sequels and outside of the franchise machine, it’s difficult to imagine many other figures in Hollywood who have the ability to make movies happen with a single phone call. After Reynolds brought Shawn Levy on board “Deadpool & Wolverine” (yet another example of an A-list actor pulling double duty as an industry mover and shaker), the director explained just how hard a time they were having on the third film:
“We frankly struggled to find a story that felt original and non-derivative of the other two ‘Deadpool’ movies. It had to be deserving of the first ‘Deadpool’ entry into the MCU, but also feel grounded because this is an earthbound, gritty, realistic superhero franchise. We had fits and starts. And Ryan and I were right at the edge of saying to Kevin, ‘You know what? Maybe now is not the right moment because we’re not coming up with a story.’ And that is the moment when Ryan’s phone rang and it was Hugh calling from his car.”
From Jackman’s perspective, a rare vacation gave him the clarity of mind to ask himself a very important question. “I was sitting on a beach, not a care in the world, and for some reason, the thought came into my head: ‘What do you want to do?’ … Then, literally, I thought: Deadpool-Wolverine. I want to do that movie. That’s what I want.” His instincts told him not to waste a single moment ringing up Reynolds, which proved prescient — Reynolds recalled a Zoom meeting with Kevin Feige scheduled for later that very day.
