Beside the principle players that brought DEADPOOL to life there's a tremendous stable of support in the cast and crew, so naturally we got a chance to drill them for info about the film as well. From supporting cast, including allies, love interests, and main villains, as well as stunt/VFX, and make-up people, there's a lotta love put into making a foul-mouthed superhero make his big screen debut. First up, we talk to the love interest, played by Morena Baccarin, who talks about the shady past of Vanessa, awkward sex scenes, and the humor that's injected into the film.
We then talk to Ed Skrein, who plays the lead villain, Ajax, who is a bonafide comic geek. In between bouts of gunfire (no, seriously) Skrein talks about his excitement for the project, comments on Ajax's costume, and the final fight between he and Deadpool. After that, we chat with Gina Carano, who gives her take on Angel Dust (while we literally dodge hail during the interview) and what it's like working on this type of project. Then, it's on to newcomer Brianne Hildebrand who plays Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Brianne discusses her childhood crush on Ryan Reynolds, real-life piercings, and her DEADPOOL playlist.
Last up is VFX and Stunt Coordinators John Rothbart and Robert Alonzo who go in depth on how they approached the action in an R-rated superhero film, as well as make-up artist Bill Corso, who discusses DEADPOOL's more Freddy Krueger-esque visage in the film and more! Seriously, you should have no questions left after ready all this. Great stuff!
Morena Baccarin – Vanessa
Q: Talk a little bit about who you play in the film
MORENA: I play Vanessa Carlisle. Um, she is Wade’s quote-unquote girlfriend-they meet in a bar, where she is a prostitute and she tries to pick him up and, uhh, and they fall in love. Just like that. (laughs).
Q: Were you aware of the character in the comics before you started?
MORENA: No. (laughs) This may shock you (laughs). But, I don’t really read comics (laughs). Even though I’ve pretty much cornered the market at this point. I had heard of Deadpool, but I really actually didn’t know he was the Merc With The Mouth until I started doing a little bit more research and really liked the character and then, through reading the script and found out more about who she was and all that. So, now I know.
Q: Is this one of those films where you’re here for the whole shoot?
MORENA: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, yeah. I’ve been here in and out…since March? Yeah, end of March.
Q: How big is your role in the film and how you play into the entire film?
MORENA: I’m in the entire movie, sort of sprinkled throughout, um, their relationship has a really big arc where- I have a question actually, how much can I talk about (to studio rep)
Rep: You can speak freely it’s embargoed until time of release
MORENA: Great, fantastic. So, there’s their meeting point, which is, I guess the backstory on the characters and how they first get together. And then they have-you see this sort of passage of time through this really funny sex montage where you see us, like, having sex throughout the holidays (laughs). It was one of my favorite, believe it or not, things to shoot, even though it sucks being naked all the time. And then you see Wade start to get sick and he gets cancer, and then their relationship becomes all about trying to save him and he, of course, wants to, sort of, send her away so she doesn’t experience that with him and then, um, he finds a way to push her away, disappears, and then we cut to eight years later. The movie is told back and forth through all that, so there’s time cuts, um, it jumps around a lot. But, then you see her at the very end again, um, because he’s been basically just trying to find a way to be comfortable with his crazy face and body now and get her back.
Q: Do you get involved with the action?
MORENA: I do get involved in the action. And it’s great. This character’s scrappy, she’s not worried about her hair and her nails or messing around. She gets down and dirty and she’s not a victim, she’s not a damsel in distress. It actually even says that in some of the fighting, y’know, she’s like ‘I can take care of myself and if you think I’m just gonna sit here and scream so you can come and rescue me, you’re wrong.’ Um, and she-we’re shooting all that stuff next week, so we’ll see how it goes, but, I’m assuming they’re gonna want me to be pretty, sort of active and not passive in it.
Q: Does she have her powers in this movie?
MORENA: I don’t have any powers other than the power of sex (laughs). And humor.
Q: Are you hoping to get your powers in a later movie?
MORENA: Yeah, sure, that’d be great.
Q: Did you know Ryan before this?
MORENA: We had met through friends, actually, so I-yeah, I knew him a little bit, but obviously a little more now.
Q: So nothing can prep you for all the eight years of sex scenes, though
MORENA: Nothing can prep you for eight years of sex scenes in one day (laughs).
Q: Was there a lot of laughing…?
MORENA: There was, there’s a lot of laughing. And that stuff is always uncomfortable, it’s not fun for anybody involved. But, we made the best of it and, y’know…by the end of the day you’re like ‘okay, where do you want me, how do you-?’ y’know, you’re like spreading your legs and you’re like whatever, it’s just, you get so used to each other.
Q: What’s it been like working with Tim Miller as a first time director?
MORENA: He’s been great. He’s really-he’s got a good eye and especially for the acting stuff, um, y’know he’s not very familiar with in directing actors and he’s really great with his gut instinct-is really great and the way he gives notes in a scene I find really inspiring.
Q: Did you give any input into the look of your character?
MORENA: No, no, a lot of input. It was really fun. It felt really collaborative, actually. Everybody came up with really awesome ideas and we just kind of like honed it in. With the costumes we first went with the really trashy, like, typical prostitute look and then we were like, y’know what, let’s layer it, like make it more interesting, y’know, we had a chance to sort of create a look and create a character. So that, added with the hair designer came up with this great idea of giving her blonde tips no matter what length her hair was, which kind of became her thing. And then make-up, too, I wanted her to always have, like, a look. Even when she’s looking like shit or she’s looking tired, she’s looking great, like she’s always got a specific look that’s her.
Q: What convinced you to do this film. What was it that made you say yes to this?
MORENA: The script was really great. I felt like, y’know, I didn’t get to read it until I was close to getting the job, so it was a little nerve wracking, but once I did I was so excited as it’s so rare in a movie like this that the female character is actually really good and not just servicing the story or servicing the hero and she’s got her own thing going on and she’s really funny and it’s a really great part. And, of course Ryan being attached was awesome because I think he’s just perfect for this role. He’s made to play this guy.
Q: Do you get the chance to improv?
MORENA: All the time. All the time. I mean, we show up and rarely what ends up being the scene is what was on the page to begin with. And, the writers are there, y’know, we’re all sort of throwing out ideas and we try one the way it’s written, one in a different way, Ryan will come up with something, I’ll come up with something, it’s really collaborate. It’s fun.
Q: What is it like for you signing onto something that may have a multi-picture deal?
MORENA: It’s exciting. I mean, it’s a little terrifying, ‘cause they own you for the rest of your life (laughs). But, it’s exciting, especially when it’s a good project. That’s the best case scenario is you would hope to make a few movies.
Q: What do you find most challenging about the role?
MORENA: Um, keeping up with Ryan. Y’know, really giving him shit and, like, being somebody-being the character that he would fall in love with-that character would fall in love with. It’s not in my comfort zone necessarily, just to show up to work and tap into her and, y’know, be the kind of girl that Deadpool would really be into.
Q: Deadpool is a bit unhinged, would you say your character is the same?
For sure. For sure. There’s nothing normal about these people (laughs).
Q: Can you tease an example?
MORENA: Yeah, the way they meet. She’s at a bar-y’know, she comes up to him and she’s gonna try to get him to spend all his money, instead of buying drinks for his friends, on her, on sleeping with her and paying her for it. And, they go into this sorta back and forth about whose life is worse. And, it’s things like ‘I was abused. Yeah, me too’ he’s like, ‘My Uncle-‘ I don’t remember the exact lines-and she goes ‘Uncles-they took turns.” And they just like taunt each other on the shittiest things that have happened to them. And that’s how they fall in love is with a sense of humor and how fucked up their life is.
Q: What has been your reaction to Deadpool fandom?
MORENA: On this thing, this whole thing? Well, as you know I’m not unfamiliar with the fandom world (laughs) But, it’s exciting, I think it’s actually-I must be worth a lot at a comic convention these days (laughs), from Gotham to V to Firefly to this. But, I think it brings it to a whole new level. I think the fans of Deadpool go a little bit deeper and a little big further into that world, y’know, I think it’s a very specific kind of person that gets the humor of it. And, the movie is very much-very true to who that character is, so I think it will be very well received.
Q: Having done Firefly, Gotham, etc. did you hesitate going after this one?
MORENA: No, no, it was great. It’s a great great movie. I don’t know, I feel like that’s all that’s out there right now, too. It’s really inundated the market, you can’t throw a rock without a comic book character falling out of a tree. But, it’s good, it’s good material. The female characters in these worlds tend to be really great.
Q: What do you think will set Deadpool apart from other comic book movies out there?
MORENA: Y’know…nobody’s safe, humor wise. It doesn’t shy away from offending people. It’s really, y’know, fun. It’s not-it’s unexpected, it’s not a movie that-when I read it I was going ‘holy shit, that’s really funny’ and, y’know, it’s not safe in any way, it really goes to all those dark places and it has a true emotional depth to it. And, I think Ryan is killing it.
Q: What’s the thing that people always want to talk to you about in your fandom roles?
MORENA: Firefly. And no, it’s not coming back guys (laughs).
Q: On that note are you done with Homeland?
MORENA: I am for now, yeah.
Q: Does that mean you’ll be involved in Conmen?
MORENA: Oh, I would like to. I think they did a good job raising money for that. It’s so funny.
Q: They raised a little bit of cash.
MORENA: Yeah, just a little bit. I’m really proud of them. Alan (Tudyk) came up to me and told me the idea a couple of years ago and I was like ‘this is genius, you need to make this’ and I’m really glad that he did. It’s hard to do something, so…yeah, I would love to be involved.
Q: What’s up for you next?
MORENA: I will be doing Gotham, season 2.
Q: That’s got to be weird doing both marvel and DC projects.
MORENA: It’s a little weirder for you guys than it is for me (laughs). It’s just another character. A great job, but yes.
Ed Skrein – Ajax
Q: Can you introduce yourself, your character, and your relationship to Deadpool?
ED: My name is Ed Skrein in real life, my character’s name is Ajax and I’m at loggerheads with Deadpool for the whole movie. It’s, uh, a revenge story from both sides.
Q: What types of challenges did you face shooting this film with the stunts, etc?
ED: Stunt-wise, physically, it’s been an equal blessing and challenge. It’s been a-these are some of the most ambitious action scenes I’ve ever done. So, that’s been a challenge, but also a blessing working with the team we have here, Rob Alonzo and Phil Silvera. Y’know, all of the stunt guys that we spent so much time working and actually for me that’s one of the joys of the job. It starts as a challenge and turns into a joy.
Q: What sort of outfit does Ajax where in the film, seeing as he has a shiny metallic 90’s style costume in the comics?
ED: (laughs) Yeah, in the comics he actually has two outfits, because he almost has two incarnations. He begins as Francis, as the attending, and he wears the black suit with the big “A”, which is also quite ‘90’s. And then he comes back as Ajax and, um, our outfit is pretty nondescript. It’s not the big crazy shiny outfit. It’s rooted in Special Forces, kind of SWAT, streamline, functional, nondescript and-there’s no glitz, no glamour, there’s no jazz to it, y’know, the character of Ajax is very uncompromising in his outlook and attitude and that’s reflected in his fashion. If you can even call it fashion. There were times when we would talk about ‘Y’know, what shoes would he wear, would he wear sneakers?’ and it was like, “No. He does not wear sneakers.” Y’know, I have like fifty pairs at home, I love them, but Ajax, no, no, no, no. He’s not that guy. From the beginning, Tim Miller wanted it to feel almost European or almost independent in its texture and feel to the whole movie and we stayed with that for Ajax’s costume.
Q: What was the appeal of the project for you?
ED: Oh, man where do I start? (laughs) I mean, like, I’m a massive comic book geek. I love this world, this universe, this is like-y’know, when actors sit around on set they talk about their dream jobs. And you ask any of the actors I’ve worked with previously and what they’ll say is-my answer would always be-comics. I want to be in this universe. And also, being somebody who loves comics so much, it’s also important to me, it’s also a bonus, that it’s this project, cause this is not your average comic book project. We’re not regurgitating anything that’s been done before. In fact, quite the opposite. We’re really trying to push to do something faithful to the character that the fans love so much. And so we’ve got all his idiosyncrasies and quirky traits, which are also very hilarious and violent. Y’know, it’s the dream project in every way for me.
Q: You don’t always see the villain come back in these films. Are you hoping to get some more comic book roles.
ED: I never look past the one movie, y’know. What you said is true, but another thing that’s true is that nobody dies in this world. Y’know, how do you kill a supervillain. Do you drown him, do you shoot him? I’m really just thinking about this project, y’know, we’ll see, we’ll see.
Q: Is Ajax Canadian in this version?
ED: Ajax is British in this version, yes. It’s interesting when you read the comics, he’s not actually-he works in Canada for a Canadian workshop, but when-since I’ve gone back and reread them, reading it in a British accent translates very well and I’d love to speak to the writers about what their original ideas were for his conception.
Q: Worked out very well for you…
ED: Worked out well for me-well, actually I auditioned in America. We got the job in America. And we felt it would be interesting to go with the British idea and obviously we’ve had English characters in the Marvel universe before, so it’s not out of the question.
Q: Can you speak to Tim’s involvement and what Ryan’s brought to the project?
ED: With Tim (Miller) and Ryan (Reynolds) we have two people that are creating the project in their own image. Or less their own physical image, but their imaginative visions. They are leading this project with such clear vision and focus and enthusiasm and passion. Tim is-I always say Tim has a very British way of speaking and working. He’s quite direct, shall we say. He doesn’t mince his words and he’s straight to the point and I love it. It’s so refreshing working with him. He’s, y’know, over halfway through and he’s getting stronger and stronger. It’s a good sign for his career as well, y’know, this being his first feature and what a phenomenal feature to begin with. It’s a great sign. I’d love to work with him again in the future.
Q: Can you talk about the R-rating?
ED: Yeah, I mean, my favorite movie of the year so far has been Kingsman. I loved it. I actually saw it twice in the cinema in Vancouver. Y’know, there’s other references, I suppose you could say is Kick-Ass 1 and 2, y’know, and those are the sort of references-but, um-it is unlike any superhero movie before, especially in the Marvel Universe, because the Marvel Universe is so specific, y’know, it’s all superheroes and villains. This is planted almost somewhere in between. I mean, this is completely the Marvel Universe, but the references that we have to modern pop culture, the self-referential-the references that even the actors make about themselves and other work that they’ve done is just, y’know-y’know what, we’re ready for it, the people are ready for it, I’m ready for it as a viewer, let alone as an actor and I believe that the people are ready for it as well.
Q: Can you talk about the dynamic between you and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool?
ED: Yeah, I mean one way that we’ve described it is as Muhammed Ali vs. Joe Fraser, y’know? Deadpool is skipping and dancing around and whispering in my ear in the middle of the fight to try and get a rise out of me and get under my skin and I’m just the juggernaut, y’know, just plowing him down, just bulldozing through. But, that kind of reference only sort of works with the physicality’s, because actually the way that Ajax-he’s a lot more sort of relaxed than Joe Frazer and a lot less serious in a lot of ways than Joe Fraser. As I said earlier, or alluded to, it’s a revenge story from both sides and what’s interesting is the way the relationships change throughout the movie, so you almost have-in the middle of the movie there’s definitely one person who wants revenge from the other person a lot more than the other and then by the end it kind of comes back around and it keeps shifting. So, it’s a complex story of revenge, y’know? It was another one of the main draws, actually, when I read the script is the relationship with Deadpool and therefore Ryan and, y’know, we did a couple scenes in my first couple of days and they were great, y’know, they felt great. But, when I did my first scene with Ryan and he was in the costume, I was like, “Okay, yes, now this is where the energy of the character really translates.” It really drives the characters and, in some way, the movie.
Q: Has it been a playful set behind the scenes?
ED: Everyone, man, it’s been so playful. We’ve had so much fun. And then you’ve got people like Gina Carano who’s just sweet and fun and young Brianna and Morena and Ryan is hilarious. And Tim-Tim is a funny guy, man. He’s a funny guy. Even our DP and first AD have got great sense of humors, all of the producers-it’s a very fun project from the inside. And, I think that’s gonna translate onto screen.
REP: Excuse me guys, when they call rolling, I’ll repeat it loudly, to cover your ears as we’re going to have some really loud gunfire.
(laughs)
ED: I love this job.
Q: Can you speak to the breaking the 4th wall and whether the other characters pick up on that?
ED: Um, no. But, there’s a lot of pop culture references from everybody. It’s littered with them. It really is gags by the boatload, they come and they keep on coming and it’s-
[GUNFIRE ERUPTS]
ED: It’s not that bad. (laughs)
Q: How often does that happen?
ED: Very frequently. Well, you know there’s only certain scenes with guns. There’s a lot of blades and hand to hand stuff, so it’s not always that loud.
Q: Can you talk about the longest amount of days shooting an action scene and some of the weapons you’ve used?
ED: Well, we spent-I was here three weeks before the shoot started, working with the stunt team. We were training twice a day and then, since then-and we were working on two separate fights. We use oxygen tanks and fire extinguishers to fight with. So, you can imagine the tone of that is pretty brutal. And, the final fight is just fantastic, because I’m fighting with two axes. Two huge axes. And, I started training for that in London with a guy called Bob Breen who’s a martial arts legend and we’re practicing Kali knife and stick fighting. I’m really excited to-we begin to shoot that this week and next week and I think we’re gonna spend around four days on that, something like that. On purely me and Deadpool’s fight. And they’ve been shooting all of this stuff around it. We’re spending a lot of time on it. Luckily, we’re putting the right amount of time on it, y’know? The right amount of prep so everybody feels relaxed going into the fights and then, um, y’know, we’ve got enough time to shoot it as well, which is great. There’s a lot of hand to hand as well, actually.
Q: What’s the character breakdown in terms of sidekicks? Is it Ajax and Angel Dust?
ED: Yeah, it’s Ajax and Angel Dust, which is a great relationship. Y’know, one of the main-the two main references for my character have been Roy Batty in Blade Runner and Harold Chitman. And, the relationship with Angel Dust is quite similar to Batty and um…the lovely blonde lady in Blade Runner, which I can’t remember her name…
Q: Daryl Hannah?
ED: Exactly, Daryl Hannah’s character. I can’t remember her name. But, it’s very similar to that, it’s sort of an ambiguous relationship. A very close relationship and we’re trying not to make it formulaic villain angry cackling and all of that, we’re having fun with it and Angel Dust is a fantastic character as well, actually. And then I’ve got all my henchmen who come and die and that doesn’t matter, y’know? They come they go. A couple of them just got mowed down while we did this, I think (laughs).
Gina Carano – Angel Dust
Q: So tell us a little bit about your character, how did you get involved in the project…
GC: I'm pretty much the henchwoman to Ajax character, he created me the way I am, and then I share those creations with other people, so I help create other mutants.
(we move closer to the table to hear her better as it is literally hailing on the tent. Oh, Vancouver.)
Q: Your character is only in for 4 comic books total, so what is it like to create the character to the audience?
GC: So there wasn't a lot I had to go of, but that also means that I had more freedom, I kept my contacts (lens) in, I wanted to bring a new 'fresh' little bit, like 80's hair by (inaudible) . I was afraid they were gonna put me in a ponytail, so I cut my hair, and I dyied it black, and I showed up and I was like "I don't know what you guys are gonna do…". My character is very strong and silent so I wanted to at least be a presence and I had to put some contacts in and…I just wanted to have fun with a different look, so this is what you guys get.
Q: Yellow contacts?
GC: Yeah, and contacts are a little tricky, and they gave me this bug-eye look, which I didn't mind, but apparently everybody else did. I was like: "it makes me look crazy!"
Q: Even though you're used to physical roles, what was different physically with this role, and what kind of physical challenges are you facing?
GC: Yeah, I definetely was cast for being physical. This one was a lot different though, because I get to fight Colossus. Andre (last name) is already 6.8", but then they put him on this heels (I think every male should use them in some point of their lives) and he becomes 7something, and he also wears a ball on top of his head, so everything is so much bigger than I was used to, so everything I have fight scenes with him, everything is WAY up there, and then I have to make the same fight scene by myself which made me feel a little bit silly but was really pleasantly surprised. When I was doing the scene without him, in my head I could still see him. So I get done and people was like: "whoa, that was pretty good!” so it's just like a dance.
Q: Do you choreograph the fight?
GC: Usually I have a big saying, but I've never done CGI anything, usually I'm fighting actors my same size so I really rely heavily on the physicality, and she's so strong, she has adrenaline, she has strength, she summons hell, she has secrets no one knows about. One thing I think people are excited is the Rrating and this is definitely a more sort of an adult, mature facing movie.
Q: What about that affecting the project, what do you think that means to the movie, whereas mean to sit in the superhero landscape?
GC: I don't know how to make this a more authentic answer because I'm sure you guys would expect me to say: "Oh, it's so great and I'm excited to be a part of it", but honestly, I read the script and it's one of the coolest scripts I've ever read. And Ryan Reynolds IS Deadpool. I read the script and I hear everyting in his voice, so that's how you know why he was meant to play the character, even when I see the Ed Skrein took me to my first comic book store, and I'm going through the comics and I'm like "oh my god, I read this in Ryan Reynolds voice", this is his character, this is his time to shine, and he couldn't be more great in there…I've seen a couple of clips here and there, I got lucky and…but I mean, it's really genuine…it's gonna be such an amazing movie and when I read the script I was like "holy shit!". I've read a couple of the comics and…you know…this one's legit. I don't know how to make that more real…it's amazing. I think anybody that loves comics are gonna love this. It breaks al sorts of bandwidths.
Q: What is it that surprised you about Ryan?
GC: Ryan is one of the most genuine nice people I've ever met in this business, he's so down to earth and he's almost kinda shy in a way, like he's very soft-spoken, but he's so funny. He's one of those people you watch his career his whole life and you feel like you don't know what's gonna happen (kinda like me in a constant basis), you really owe his points for him, but after meeting him I'm just like "ah man, he's a superstar", he deserves everything good that is gonna happen to him in his life and I hope Deadpool is one more of that sparks that fire, cause he's an amazing talent. And to watch him perform it's really been a pleasure.
Q: What is it like to work with Tim Miller as a firsttime director?
GC: I hate his guts! (Just kidding…). I met Tim a while ago for a different project and the first thing I did, he's like "yeah, yeah, you like angels and demons and that's really cool…come watch this Deadpool thing". And I was like "ok…". And I've never been much into comics but I was like "this is pretty cool". So when he called me an year and a half later he said: "if you wanna do it, it's yours". I like Tim as a friend, I've known him for an year and a half and he's a really cool person and to see him take on this undertaking of this large movie, he's kinda like a genius, In the way that he's handling all this pressure and he keeps every character and he has it all on his mind because he's so passionate about the project, we couldn't have asked for a better director. I think after we see the movie, he's gonna be able to do whatever he wants. Cause it's looking really good. I adore Tim, it's like working for your friend…he doesn't cut any corners, he's just like: "Nah nah, that was awful…and let me tell you why". It's been a really great experience, I don't even wanna leave Vancouver, it's one of the best jobs I've ever had and I think that will shine through the movie.
Q: How much of the previz (pre-visualization) have you seen in advance and how much of what you're doing compared to the previz and how does that affect you as an actor?
GC: It's more challenging physically, like I said I usually have to fight people my size, but in this movie my strength goes against colossus who is 7-foot-something ridiculous, and I have to stand in front of him and make it look believable, and that's not as easy as I thought, because every movement I do I gotta be strong, because you have to believe that this character can face him. That's why I'm glad I went with the silent/insane look, cause I think that really adds the presence in front of this massive thing. By the way, Andre is amazing. He is the kindest, most gentle giant, and I hope we can throw his name up there as much as possible cause I think is gonna be important for him as an actor since he's gonna be CGI but…his facial expression and his physical movements and honestly just his presence has really played a huge role in becoming the colossus character.
Q: What kind of crazy stunts you had to take on him?
GC: I've actually done them all, so far. Tim look at me and says: "Oh, she can handle it". We've been shooting in this junkyard and I've realized I don't like dirt so much, but I've had it everywhere. It's probably the messiest I've ever been in a fight, and I kinda loved it and hated it. I was just worried about the spiders…that's all I cared about. I was like: "Did we do a spider check? No…?". I had to climb on top of Colossus’ shoulders (under his shoulders) and punch down and do a roll out of it…and then he picks me by the neck and slams me…so everything that he's doing I have to so by myself. So I'm throwing myself back into the dirt and he saw me going through five different emotions like "this is disgusting, oh no, get me outta here!" But you learn to love your character and you learn to love the places you shoot, so I think I won't look at a junkyard the same.
Q: Do you have a favorite moment on the set so far?
GC: I still have half of it to go, I honestly just love the cast and the crew, everyone I've worked with, Brianna, Ryan, Ed, and Andre and Tim and everybody is great. It just feels that everyone's here to make the best and everybody's really healthy, you don't have that one person you dislike, there's no one like that, we're all in this to make a good film, and I think that definitely comes out of good energy.
Brianna Hildebrand – Negasonic Teenage Warhead
On her character in the film:
BH: I play Negasonic Teenage Warhead. She is a 15 year old psychic, she like reads the future and she also is like her own personal cannonball, like she’s a warhead. So She like runs at things and explodes at them. And she is Colossus’ sidekick, so yeah. Her relationship with Deadpool is kind of-it’s friendly, it’s kind of like a brother-sister relationship, they don’t really get along, but they’re on the same side.
On creating her onscreen persona from the limited info in the comics killed off after one issue:
BH: It’s awesome, yeah. Like, for my character development it was really great ‘cause I could just literally give her my own biography, y’know, I could give her whatever I wanted her to be and pull from that. It’s been fun, I’m excited about it.
On being relatively new to the film world:
BH: Once I got here it was so much fun and it has been so much fun and everyone is like so chill and, like, y’know, it’s awesome. Everyone’s pretty understanding. Also, since it’s Tim’s first time directing, I was like, “We’re in this together, man.” Like, “we got this, I believe in you.”
On the coolest thing she’s done so far on the film:
BH: The coolest thing is probably just all the stunts. The stunts are my favorite part, the stunts that I get to do anyway. Like, let’s see, when Angel Dust (Gina Carano) throws me that was so fun ‘cause like they put you on this string/bungee cord thing and they, like, throw you in the air and you’re just like “whoa” and, yeah, that was the funnest part. I think I love the stunts the most of, like, everything so far.
What kind of training she did for Deadpool:
BH: Well, I trainined in Muay Thai for a few months before I got out here, cause I was a dancer before, but I had never really done any kind of fighting, so I was like I should probably look like I should kick someone’s ass. So yeah, and I’ve done a lot of boxing, which I really enjoy, but that’s really the training I did. And, a lot of sprinting, ‘cause she runs at things.
On the look of the character and what she brought personally to it:.
BH: I mean, I think maybe the fact that I have a shaved head might be, like, a look that I bring, I guess. Yeah, I don’t know. I really love everything that she, like, wears and all of her outfits, it’s actually stuff that I would actually wear, like, I was so excited about it all and I was like, “Oh, the stud’s so cool and she’s so badass.” (laughs) Yeah.
On whether or not she went all the way with the piercings:
BH: See, I actually had already had all of this happening and when I auditioned I actually had my septum ring, like, flipped up (tucks the ring in to show us), so they didn’t know I had it. But, they like, saw it in a picture and they were like, “Oh, that’s really cool.” I had my head shaved for like a year and I had my piercings for like a year, too, so it’s cool that they, like, loved all of it. It was cool that it could be useful.
On her biggest surprise being on set and making a movie:
BH: Probably just how friendly everyone was. And, also, like, how slowly things go, because it does- there are so many people-how slowly it takes to, like, film certain scenes and, like, to setup for, like, another shot takes like 15 minutes ‘cause like everyone’s getting ready to, like, set up for it. I don’t know, it’s crazy, like, I really didn’t really think about how many different factors, like, played into filming and stuff. It’s really cool, though.
On working with Ryan Reynolds:
BH: Ryan is great. He’s super cool. I actually-Ryan Reynolds was my childhood crush. His name is all over the walls of my room and I actually photoshopped myself into a picture with him my freshman year in high school, like, I was hardcore obsessed, so it’s crazy how this all worked out. When I auditioned for this film actually I didn’t really have any kind of idea, like, even what I was auditioning for or that he had anything to do with it, but, for my callback I was like, “Oh, my God! What?!” So yeah, it’s cool working with him. It’s awesome.
On whether she admitted her crush to Ryan on set:
BH: Oh yeah, yeah. My first day on set I brought the picture and everything and I was like, “Check it out” like, I was more excited about it than they were. He was like, “Yeah, it’s pretty cool.” (laughs)
What did you see Ryan Reynolds in when you were younger that made you take note:
BH: I saw him in The Proposal. I saw him in-I saw him in a lot of stuff. I saw him in the Green Lantern, I remember watching that, like, in my room. I don’t know. Everything, though, because I was obsessed with him, I was just like-everything he was in just because he was in it.
Did Blake pull you aside over your old crush:
BH: (laughs) I don’t know that she knows. Hope not, sorry Blake. She’s really sweet, though, so it would probably be okay. She’d be like, “I understand, my husband’s a hot piece of meat,” and I’d be like, “Yeah, go you girl. Ten out of ten.” (laughs)
On the exploding effects of Negasonic:
BH: The thing is, like, for the exploding and stuff, we film, like, up to the explosion, obviously and then it’s, like, the effects. She explodes like three times, so, I think we’ve filmed one of them so far. Maybe two. It’s just strange ‘cause of how it’s filmed, like, it’s like we go up to the explosion and then we start filming after the explosion, so it’s kind of hard to tell, like, where the explosion is or, like, which explosion it is type thing. But yeah, we’ve at least filmed one so far.
Did you read the comics or discover anything that you were happy to see in the film:
BH: I was really focused on my character, because I couldn’t find anything about her and it was actually stressing me out a little bit. I borrowed a few comics-Deadpool comics- from Ed (Skrein) actually, my co-star who plays Ajax, cause he’s a comic book nerd, like, straight up, he has all of them. So, I borrowed some from him and I was reading through a few of them – I haven’t really gotten that much into them. I’ll let you know (laughs) how I feel about that. But yeah, I’m on the second-volume 2-of the complete Deadpool series. Go me.
On what it’s like working with the mo-cap version of Colossus:
BH: It’s, like, hard, because I don’t know what he’s actually going to look like in the end, y’know. So, it can be a little difficult talking to him with that thing on his head. Starting making fun of him, calling him a Teletubby. Um, but yeah, for the most part I just imagine a giant titanium guy and, yeah, I’m really excited to see what he looks like actually at the end. Be like, “Oh, that’s who I’m talking to.”
On if she’s listened to the song her character is based on:
BH: Yeah, by Monster Magnet. It’s on my playlist. I gave her a nice rock playlist that I listen to in the morning so I get in the zone. Yeah, I love it. I jam.
Bill Corso – Makeup Designer
Q: What type of challenges did you face with the makeup, did you get inspired a lot by the comic?
BILL CORSO: Well, yeah. I mean, it was a big deal of concern with the studio and with Tim [Miller] and Ryan [Reynolds] that Deadpool try to be as true to the comic. But that being said, there’s two side of it: You got the fans who obviously want Deadpool as he is portrayed in the comics, which is you research the comics as much as I have, he’s everything from a rotten corpse to a guy with a couple of lines on his face, so there’s a lot of leeway. But you have a studio who wants to make sure that you see their leading man and he still has to be somewhat attractive to the opposite sex [Laughs], which I think was one of the reasons that I was brought in as opposed to a lot of other people, trying to find that line of something that’s gonna appeal to the script where he’s referred to as horrific, disfigured, and yet you look at him and he’s still kind of charming and iconic, because we’re creating a new character for the Marvel universe that hopefully is just not Freddy Krueger, which basically is what he’s drawn like most of the time. My first look at him was like, “Oh my God. I just don’t wanna do a Freddy Krueger guy” because first of all that’s been done well, and been redone a million times, and there’s only so many ways that you can do a scarred guy. And he’s not really burned, he’s not a burn victim, he’s a guy who’s been disfigured by this which is why I guess they get away with drawing him so many different ways. So we did a lot of tests, conceptually we did, I did one Photoshop and I realized, “That’s Ryan Reynolds with scars on his face” which I don’t think is what this should be, it’s got to be a character, it’s got to be a really cool, iconic, guy when the mask comes off as iconic as the mask, he’s got to look bitching, I think from a makeup perspective. So we did a lot of tests, I did a bunch of makeup tests, full-blown tests from just one end of the spectrum to the other, you know, subtle scars to more deformed.
I referenced like Sin City and even some old iconic-looking characters that have a really strong sense of personality. I kind of took Ryan and I just kind of amped him up, so it’s more interesting to look at. So we went back and forth with the studio, we refined the tests and we brought Ryan in finally and we did multiple tests on him, and literally just kind of playing with stuff on the side that looked kind of cool, pursuing that. So eventually I think what we wound up with is something really cool and I think that everybody will be happy with it. Some little images that have leaked out online certainly don’t do it justice, that’s the good news about when people get a glimpse of something they’re like, “Oh that’s what it is” it’s like, “No, no, no. You gotta wait until you see it in context in the way that it’s meant to be seen” and I think it’s gonna be really neat. And I’m sure some people will say, “Oh it’s just Ryan Reynolds with scars” but there’s a lot more to it than that, and from a makeup perspective, for me, it’s cool because I got a leading man who we do see as a good-looking leading man in the movie. Because it is an origin story so we get to see what he looks like handsome and then we get to see him getting killed and dying and not looking so great, so he has many transitions. Even as Deadpool we actually get to play with many looks within what he is. So it’s fun, this particular character has given me a lot to do, and there’s one particular sequence where it’s full-blown, we see a lot more of him than we would ever want to see [Laughs]. So it’s neat, it’s quite challenging.
Q: What about the rest of the characters?
CORSO: The rest of them are pretty simple. Tim wanted to keep it really grounded, the look for this movie is not really fantasy, he wanted to keep a pretty realistic look for everybody. We started to reference the comics for some of the stuff, the illustrations, Gina Carano who plays Angel Dust came in guns blazing, she was so excited because her character’s always drawn with yellow eyes and she had made these big beautiful yellow contact lenses and it was like, “Wow that awesome! But that’s a different movie” [Laughs] she just looked like she was in a Twilight movie, but we made her really cool lenses that actually look really neat and do change her look. So we do little things like that trying to come up with, again, it’s all about silhouettes. But a lot of in is vin design a lot of it is silhouettes, [Steven] Spielberg says, “If you can recognize a character, you can recognize a character by its silhouette”.
So we tried to come up with like a silhouette of somebody or something unique for each character, so we came up with those great hairstyles for Gina which works for her fighting. Because you gotta factor in these guys are doing a lot of stunts, there are gonna be CG doubles of these characters, so as cool as a character is in the comic book with hair flowing and it looks awesome –I worked on one of the X-Men movies on one of the characters who, again, is always drawn with this beautiful flaming, amazing hair but when you try to do that in the movie, plus it’s CG hair it’s never gonna look like that. I think –who was it? – Somebody posted a picture online of a cool character with this amazing thing but in reality it would’ve just been a sweat ball. So you gotta take all those things into consideration and for Gina we came up with, you’ve probably seen her, and she has a couple of different looks in the movie. I love to change people up so nobody’s stuck in one particular look, and we have a little bit of time passage in the movie so we get like some aging to do on some of the characters. Ed [Skrein], our bad guy who plays Ajax, you get to see him younger and more healthy-looking, he goes off to prison for a while and comes out looking quite worse. So those are little fun things that we get to do. But Ryan for sure is the linechair of the work.
Q: In the comics Copycat is blue, is she blue in the movie?
CORSO: [Laughs] No. There is a little easter egg, we throw a couple of easter eggs because she’s not quite copycat yet. So no, but there is a tip to that and for every guy in the audience I’m sure will not be missed.
Q: Did Brianna [Hildebrand] come in with a shaved head and you wanted her to have short hair?
CORSO: No, she actually had more hair. There was an image of her from a photoshoot that Tim, our director, had seen where her hair was cut like that and just loved it, so that’s the look we went with. There’s a fear too, everybody came in and everybody had a buzzed head, all the girls want black heavy eyeliner, everybody starts looking the same, every guy wants stubble, it’s like, “God, man!” Things nobody would ever think about but of course it keeps me up at night, stupid things that the audience would never see. So you try to work and come up with something new.
Q: Did it create challenges since it’s an R rating?
CORSO: No. Thankfully it is an R rating. But lately PG movies have been getting pretty broad, I’ve done a lot of PG movies recently and I haven’t had to hold back. Gladly we’re embracing the R and having a lot of fun with it, so it’s refreshing to see not being able to hold back and to let them fly off with profanity or references or stuff that’s really fun. But as far as makeup goes on the blood and the gore and everything, of which ironically is not as much as there could be, it’s all portrayed pretty realistically. I’ve just seen Kingsmen, which I love, but it’s very stylistic, this is the complete opposite of that, this is portrayed very real. Also Tim’s not dwelling on any blood, gut stuff. Deadpool does some really graphic stuff to people but it’s all quick and it doesn’t linger on them either, it’s much more about how he does things and how he’s dealing away and flipping on them.
Q: Is there anything else that you wanted to touch on?
CORSO: For fans, again, I think that everybody will be happy. Because I’m a fan and it’s great to see Tim as a big fan. We’re referencing other mutants, we can kind of sneak in a couple of references to other mutants and show glimpses of other mutants and I don’t know if you guys know this, but the way that the studios –You know you got Marvel and Disney, Fox, and Sony and they all have the collection of what they can use, so we have a list of all the mutants Fox has access to. So we kind of pulled a couple and we’re kind of sneaking them in for glimpses, and that’s kind of fun. The thing about Tim is that he can reference any mutant instantly, he knows who they are and what they do, which is amazing to me, it’s like, I’m kind of a fan but I can’t do that, he’s an encyclopedia. So he’s a fan, and he’s one of these guys that even though he comes from a VFX background –And I come from a special creature background and I’ve gotten more into regular makeup, it’s great for a project like this where you can do a little bit of both. But it’s amazing how many people I’ve talked to that say how great Tim is and how knowledgeable he is and how he’s gonna kill this movie, this is from people in the industry who I respect. So it’s very exciting, it’s a fun, great project.
John Rothbart / Robert Alonzo – Visual Effects/Stunt Coordinator
Q: Tell us a little bit what type of challenges there was for each of you on being part of this movie, what did you face?
J: Well, you know, one big one for us, visual effects wise that we encounter and it was actually pretty exciting to deal with this, we've been doing the Colossus/Angel Dust fighting right now…and there was a lot of…you know, you have a 5'8 person fighting a 7'6 person who doesn't exist, so having a total CG character with real character and having such a discrepancy between their scale took a lot of planning per shot, per move, per fight beat moment. We're trying to kinda balance how we're gonna deal with that. And in doing that, be able to have Gina fighting with all the power and intensity that she does oh, so well. So that was a big fun challenges that we had to work out, which we did a lot with Rob, the stunts and everybody else.
Q: So how closely you two had to work together?
J: Too close
R: Very, very close. One of our very first meetings, I'd say the very first day, I met with Tim (who's standing outside the tent).
J (to Tim): We're always saying good things about you!
R: Yeah, so the first day I met him and he hated me, but he lost a bet. Seriously, the 1st day I knew that there was a challenge when they showed me some of the pre-viz’s and I said that one of the biggest challenges for us to do is to really make sure that the VFX and the practical action blended well together so it becomes seamless, so we very much initiated contacting each other very early on, way before we actually started shooting. We sat down and did breakdowns like John has said: shot per shot on what was needed practically, what was needed for proxies, digital blends, so having the marriage between VFX and practical stunt execution without that kind of communication wouldn't be successful.
J: if the execution A doesn't work in B, the back and forth of how we come up with the stunts and when to blend VFX and when to do it practically, which also gives you cool ideas of how you can take something to a new level differently, because you're doing these mixes and matches and thinking about them from the very beginning. It's an awesome opportunity, and a fantastic way to work, for sure…(turns to Rob): even if it was with you.
R: I know! Also, in this day and age with the advances in VFX and utilization of motion capture and how everything is blended in…this days of film making allows you to create so many different things nowadays in whatever genre you wanna work with and John was one of the best I've worked with, for sure.
J: Aww…
R: We'll hug it out later…
Q: With the R-rating, does it allow any creative freedom for each of your respective departments?
Both: Absolutely!
J: That's one of the things that really allows you a lot of freedom, marrying the two to that.
R: I would say, as far as a super hero movie, this is the best one I could ever had the chance to work on because the stuff we're doing you'll never see in any other that it out there right now, that's for sure. These guys just keep coming up with crazy, messed up things and we just keep trying to push the envelope in all sorts of directions. We do, we have an incredible freedom to do a lot of things you just not normally get away with. Can you sort of tease without spoiling some of the ways you are able to embrace the R rating and do cool shit that has never been done? Because no one does R-rated superhero movies, it's very rare…
R: In my experience, a lot of the action movies nowadays are PG13, so this was a great opportunity once I read the script to collaborate with Tim Miller and ?!?!?!?! who is also a coordinator and really worked together to come up with some action scenes that you wouldn't normally see on screen primarily because of the amount of brutality, but mixed with comedic elements is a completely different approach to any other not only Marvel movie but any other movie that we've seen in a while.
J: Our action is more unbuckled as it is winter soldier.
R: And not only that. The comedic bits that we do have…the way that Deadpool is able to interact with everybody else in the film is just awesome and Ryan is really good at it just adlibbing and throwing out new ideas that you can't help just to sit on the set and laugh because he just throws out new shit all the time, and each one is funnier than the next.
J: It's a huge think tank. With the advancements in VFX and using that and also Tim's proficiency with animation and how he sees everything and what you can't or can do…we're really pushing the envelope of what you can actually do from practical action to the blends with VFX. I think story wise too, this character deserves that type of approach whereas in other versions of Deadpool I don't think it really did justice (laugh).
R: Definitely not! (laugh). And this film definitely embraces that problem in a big way. The other thing that we also tried to do was, as opposed to other super hero movies where they take it so far the sense of reality in certain moments where it's super hero stuff but you don't necessarily believe that in the world we live in any way but Deadpool try to keep it grounded to a level where we recognize it's a superhero movie with superhero things but most of the fight stuff these guys come up with and the work they're doing, it all feels very real and very grounded until we just push it a little further. But there's no moment where you look and say "well…it's just a super hero movie".
J: And that segues into the approach that suspending disbelief in a movie that normally goes well beyond what the physicality that we as human beings can understand, but taking into account reality plus 1520% allows us that type of freedom. Because if you watch in YouTubethese days you'll see a lot of "fail" and "success" compilations of people doing acrobatic movements, it becomes more feasible and believable that we're constantly pushing the bounds of what we can physically do as human beings, and as we continue to push that far in a practical note that also begs us to challenge what we can do physically to portrait a lot of ideas on what we see and relate to. That really lends ourselves to what is believable on screen.
R: And to be fair, we're not doing a ton of wirework in the movie. These guys are out there doing the work, hard jumps, hard stunts, big moves…they're doing it all with no assist at all. It's incredible what these guys can do.
Q: We know you guys are doing a lot of on location filming, a couple of weeks you were filming on the freeway…
J: That was amazing, the crew on this movie is A+, it's fantastic. We were able to execute a plan out there in a very short time and to get a sequence that basically plays throughout the entire movie and how's already turning out is gonna be amazing. The fact that we did it in 1012 days out there, but on a public transport that means that we had to design a plan not only to get our shots (which was a lot) but also to have our entry and exit plan because it was an open freeway after a certain point, so the city would only allow us to shoot there for a certain amount of time. So the planning we had for that had to be extremely effective.
R: It's not sexy stuff, but truthfully, getting on and getting of that viaduct in under 1015 minutes with the entire film crew is a monumental task that they cranked out everyday, and everybody would hid their gears in the cars we were working in and there were no crew trucks on set. All the cars that are in the picture, we hid our gears inside of it, underneath it, that's how we managed to get through with it and keep it all out there, get the work done and get outta there quickly, but it was a very cool system that we had to deal with in the timeframe.
Q: Have budgetary constraints forced you guys to think outside the box and find creative solutions to problems that you might be able to throw money out otherwise?
J: There very few movies out there where money is not your problem. We're definitely NOT a Marvel Captain America, Avengers or any of that stuff.
R: We are a third of the shield (laughs).
J: Yeah, we definitely have that, but that's part of what helped us to stay more in a grounded state and really helped us guided to keep that stuff more in the real world and not try something so fantastic as A: we can afford it and B: by the end of the day, it makes it all play a lot better.
R: Creativity spawns from restraints. If you have all the luxury of spending as much money as you can, yeah, you can throw money at something but that doesn't necessarily give you the best product either, so working with what you have to make the best that you can do, and I think we have a lot of imagery creative people on this movie, so it's amazing.
J: Again, going back to what Robert was saying earlier, we're not giving the lip service. The team we have is an awesome team and everybody is so in to working together, it makes fun to figure out how we're gonna do the work but it makes it possible. Because if you don't have that level of communication and interaction of all the different groups putting it together it just doesn't work.
Q: How involved is Ryan Reynolds in doing his own stunts?
R: He's been involved in quite a bit; we used his own physicality to what he can do. Obviously we have doubles, this is the type of movie that allows us to use abilities of highly skilled acrobats, which Ryan is not, but the way he participates in the action besides his own physicality is with his ideas as well. Because he participates with his movement and we get the comedic elements out of them. But you'll see in the movie, he also has an incredible fight scene that was very intense that you wouldn't expect from this movie, so he did train with us and he did execute moves that are within his physicality and skill set…but the luxury of having a mask allows us the freedom to put him in and have him "not" be in, so hopefully we created a seamless transition between when you see Deadpool as Ryan and Deadpool as double and you can't even tell. That's our goal. He's a physical guy for sure and he's involved in every bit of the action in there as much as we can have him safely.
J: And his personality in general, like "Let's go for it, let's do it!", he really likes to be involved, he wants to be a part of what's going on, not only in the actual visual work, but he's involved when we talk about making cool moves.
Q: How many VFX shots are you planning for right now?
J: How many are we planning or how many we think we'll have??! (Laughs) Both…We planned for 700+ and we'll probably be something between 800 or 900 is my guess. Which in today's day and age is a pretty manageable number…and VFX is a funny thing, there's plenty of shots that hopefully will never be noted as a VFX shot. But that has an effect on numbers. But that's generally what we are planning around. For me, in doing VFX my goal as a supervisor is I'll be happy if you never noticed I've worked on the show at all.
R: I'd be happy with that…
J: We worked really hard on our side to A: get what we can in camera, to keep everything in camera an on set and then, when we do follow it up with our metal man (Colossus), between what we capture, while we're shooting you know…we have a guy that is 6'11"guy that we make him wear platform shoes to get him up to 7'6". He's huge.
R: Manute Bol…
J: Any bigger and you can't even shoot the guy! We we're like: Let's embrace it, we have shots shooting everybody else and you just see him from the chest down. We're trying to do a lot of things on set to people interact with them like we have the guy and we'll put him in there for all our shots, but is very important to me that everything is captured in camera. Is there a particular sequence that you guys are most excited about plan, put on and finally see it in the big screen?
J: The end of the movie has some pretty amazing stuff. We've been dialing for a while, we can't talk about this but is a great final fight between our hero and our villain and how that all culminates and we're trying to put just enough in the end of it to have a big superhero end to it, but at the same time, budgetary wise not to go so over the top like crashing big spaceships down into a city and exploding buildings.
R: What are you referring to…? (laughs)
J: But there's so many bits.
R: Yeah, there's so many scenes, it's hard to pick one…the freeway sequence is amazing, the final fight and the Colossus x Angel…
J: The firefight scene is gonna be amazing. And there's so many elements in this movie that is very hard to pick just one. I mean…we all got into this business because we're passionate people with what we do, so to pick a single one I find very hard to do because each and everyone of them have a different challenge. The fire one was a huge, huge challenge…more than actually can appear to be.
R: There's a bunch of scenes that make everything complicated…
J: Which is cool, because they're great opportunities and problem solving chances…and the end result is gonna be awesome. And likewise for all of our stuff. And one that you can say…"slice and dice", is not a feature fight in the movie but the stuff that those guys put in have so much personality and fun moves to it, that's where definitely anything other than R-rated is outta the picture.
R: Yeah, this is the time for all the Deadpool fans. You'll always have the hero/villain fight in the end, but the moments when you see Deadpool in his full glory…that is definitely one of them.
J: I've never seen a film that embrace that side of the movie so much.
READ THE DEADPOOL SET VISIT HERE!
LEARN HOW TO MAKE A CHIMICHANGA HERE!
DEADPOOL blasts into theaters on February 12th, 2016.