WARNING: potential spoilers for Deadpool 2 ahead
Deadpool 2 is a hilarious movie jam-packed with secret A-list cameos, pop culture references, and a boatload of Easter eggs. However, it had a smaller budget than many of the big-name superhero movies produced today.
The original Deadpool movie had a budget of $58 million and Deadpool 2 screenwriter Paul Wernick cites that the new movie’s budget was only slightly larger.
Compare this to the $1 billion budgeted for both Avengers: Infinity War and the untitled Avengers 4 movie, or the $300 million budgeted for Justice League, and you realize that Deadpool 2 did a lot with very little.
So, how did they do it? How did Ryan Reynolds, David Leitch, Paul Wernick, and Rhett Reese put together an amazing blockbuster hit with less money than their competition?
The answer is cutbacks. The film utilized many of Reynolds’ relationships to bring in amazing cameos, and they reduced, reused, and recycled critical footage.
Through this article, we will take you behind the scenes of Deadpool 2 and reveal exactly how the film’s cast and crew brought everything they had to give you an amazing, hilarious, and action-packed movie.
So, get ready to look behind all the smoke and mirrors because here are the 21 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets About Deadpool 2.
Brad Pitt Was Paid a Single Cup of Coffee for His Cameo
Originally, director David Leitch approached Brad Pitt to play Cable early on, but schedule conflicts didn’t allow them to cast him. So instead, Leitch asked him “If there’s something else down the line, would you take the call?”
Little did Pitt know, this was about to lead to one of the best movie cameos of all-time.
In the original script, Vanisher was never meant to be seen. He was supposed to remain a mystery. But when he got tangled up, producer and screenwriter Paul Wernick said, “we just thought, ‘Oh my god, what a perfect idea for a celebrity cameo.’ And then we thought, ‘Who is the hardest to get in Hollywood? Let’s call him.’”
So, they reached out to Brad Pitt. According to screenwriter Rhett Reese, Pitt agreed to do it for scale – the minimum amount of money designated by an actor’s guild – and a Starbucks coffee.
However, this wasn’t an ordinary coffee. He wanted a double-wet cappuccino and requested that Ryan Reynolds hand deliver it to him.
Reese said, “We got the coffee, Ryan came in and gave it to him. It was hilarious because he kind of forgot that he asked for it. It was really funny. And then we shot it in about a half an hour.”
Ryan Reynolds Also Voiced the Juggernaut
Although Juggernaut has appeared in X-Men: The Last Stand, the fans have always wanted more from the iconic character and he was finally given a second chance in Deadpool 2.
On the topic of Juggernaut’s appearance, screenwriter Rhett Reese said, “We committed to it early on, because he’s never been done justice until now. We always wanted to a see a CG Juggernaut, so we finally got that.”
However, they may have bitten off more than they can chew.
According to Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool 2 was shot for a lot less than a normal superhero movie and in the end, they simply couldn’t afford a voice for Juggernaut. Therefore, Reynolds stepped up and did the voice and facial capture for the infamous Marvel character.
Reynolds told Empire, “I just did it as a temp, this sort of Brooklyn brawler kind of voice that we modulated in post, and cranked up and gave it all this bass and reverberation. We didn’t settle on that because it was quality. We settled on it because we just didn’t have any more budget left to jump in.”
At the end of the movie, we see that the Juggernaut survived his electrocution. So, could we see Reynolds step into the role again?
Fox Forced Ryan Reynolds to Take Out a Joke about Disney
We all love the Deadpool franchise because they aren’t afraid to take risks. Deadpool will make fun of just about everything and everyone.
However, according to Ryan Reynolds, there was one thing that was completely off limits.
“This is a sore spot for me,” Reynolds said. “Because there’s a joke in the movie that is not in the movie now because – I’m probably not even allowed to say this – Fox made me take it out. It had more to do with Disney, and they made me take it out. As I look back at it, I think maybe that was a wise decision.”
Although Reynolds didn’t reveal the exact reason why 20th Century Fox shut down the “Merc with a Mouth”, we can assume it was related to the Disney-Fox merger.
The merger was the talk of the town last December when it was announced that Disney was purchasing Fox’s assets. However, Comcast is getting into the game and has recently confirmed that they will counter Disney’s offer.
Fox has previously poked fun at the merger by showing a video of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman being interrupted by the Disney character, Pluto at the 2018 CinemaCon.
Therefore, it would be interesting to see why Ryan Reynold’s joke crossed the line.
The X-Men Cameo was not Filmed Onsite and There Were Alternate Scenes
Deadpool constantly complains about how the X-Mansion is empty and that the movie could only afford Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
So, to shut him up, Deadpool 2 featured a hilarious cameo with Beast, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Quicksilver, and Professor X.
However, the X-men characters that show up in X-Mansion aren’t even there. None of the actors are actually on set with Ryan Reynolds and Stefan Kapicic.
According to writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, the cameo was filmed in front of a green screen in Montréal by Simon Kinberg during the shooting of the upcoming movie, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. Then, they used special effects to composite the two images together. This is why the scene only lasts five seconds.
There were, however, alternate scenes that were not used in the movie. Evan Peters, the actor who plays Quicksilver, said “We were shooting [X-Men: Dark Phoenix] and were like, ‘Okay, we’re going to do a quick thing for Deadpool 2,’ … and we had a lot of different versions for when they open that door and turn to us. But the one they used was pretty chill.”
When asked to explain the other alternate shots, Peters said, “Ummm hmmm… not really sure I can say. There was some fun, dirty stuff.”
Deadpool Was Supposed to be a Father and Vanessa Was Supposed to Live
The actress that plays Vanessa, Morena Baccarin agrees that her character was a victim of “fridging” in Deadpool 2.
Fridging is a term that refers to “women in refrigerators.” It was coined because of a scene in Green Lantern where Rayner found his girlfriend’s body in a fridge.
However, it refers to the fact that many female characters in comics, movies, and television shows are sacrificed or injured to help the development of the male hero.
In the first few minutes of Deadpool 2, we quickly see that the movie embraces the aspect of fridging. Vanessa is immediately sacrificed to help Wilson become close to the X-men and ultimately save Russell.
However, when asked about the term, Deadpool writers Reese and Wernick said they didn’t know what fridging was.
In fact, during the first drafts of the script, Vanessa doesn’t get shot and instead breaks up with Deadpool.
However, they decided against this plot because they believed that Deadpool worked best when he’s had everything taken away from him.
In another version of the script, Deadpool also has a son and the movie started five years after the first one. But Ryan Reynolds said, “By page 1.5, it was totally untenable. We were just like, ‘Nope. Nope. No, no, no. This is never, ever going to work.’”
Terry Crews Trolled the World By Wearing a Blanket
Deadpool 2 had just as much secrecy as an Avengers movie. However, the actors weren’t the ones being trolled – we were.
The Deadpool 2 trailers and marketing material indicated that the universe was laying down the groundwork to bring in the X-Force.
We saw Deadpool putting the team together and shots of Shatterstar and Bedlam in action over the past couple of months. But if you watched the movie, you know that this was all one big troll.
Terry Crews, the actor that plays Bedlam, revealed that they knew about the ruse straight from the get-go. He told Business Insider that the crew shot some extra X-force scenes that were thrown into the trailer and used only for marketing purposes.
He also had to wear blankets throughout shooting to prevent the spies from figuring out the truth. Therefore, you were completely surprised when Bedlam was hit by a bus and Shatterstar met his match with a helicopter.
Crews did feel bad for tricking the fans though. He said, "I feel horrible. The fans were excited. But, to me, the purpose was to give the audience something they would never expect. And it was crazy to keep all that a secret. When we were shooting in Vancouver I had to walk around with blankets over me because there were spies. I just got a few pages, sometimes even just a few lines of the script.”
Deadpool's Katana Handles Had an Easter Egg
Back in January 2018, Ryan Reynolds tweeted a picture of Deadpool’s swords that revealed an Easter Egg and a nice nod to the comics.
In the comics, Wade Wilson has a fascination with Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls. This obsession was so prominent in the comics that it was then transferred to the first Deadpool movie.
If you looked closely during Deadpool, you may have noticed Wade Wilson wearing a jersey with the actress’ face. Reynolds wanted to truly honor his character and therefore paid $10,000 to use Arthur’s image.
Since Bea Arthur is deceased, this money ultimately went to charity based on a deal that Reynolds worked with Arthur’s son Daniel.
Reynolds wasn’t done with Bea Arthur’s tribute though. She once again made an appearance in the form of an Easter Egg in Deadpool 2.
Although it’s nearly impossible to catch during the movie, Ryan Reynolds tweeted a picture of the bottom of Deadpool’s two katanas. On each sword’s handle, the words “Bea” and “Arthur” are engraved in gold.
The fact that most viewers don’t get to see the Easter Egg shows that it was mainly used as a nice nod for the Deadpool fans on the cast and crew.
The Movie Was Once Called "Love Machine"
During the beginning of 2016, Deadpool 2 revealed in a production note that the film would be called Love Machine while it went through its development process.
This was likely a joke and innuendo about Cable, a character with cybernetic or machine-like parts that was looking to protect his family and save the ones he loved.
However, a working title doesn't usually last until the end of production. Instead, it's used as a placeholder for the film crew while they figure out the actual name of the movie, or used to deceive fans about the film’s plot.
The writers thought about the movie’s name for a long time but ultimately decided they wanted a simple, cleaner name without too much wording.
Screenwriter Rhett Reese said, “I think we contemplated the idea of doing one of those silly titles. But it’s been done for 20 years now and it just felt a little bit like a cliché and maybe beneath us. So, we decided let’s just keep it Deadpool 2.”
The other writer, Paul Wernick agreed with the title and said, “Strangely, calling it Deadpool 2 made it fresh to us.”
Sadly though, Ryan Reynolds revealed that he wasn’t too thrilled about the name.
Ryan Reynolds Apologized to David Beckham Because of a Deadpool Joke
You probably remember Deadpool taking a jab at famous soccer player, David Beckham during the first Deadpool movie.
While sitting on the couch talking with Blind Al, Deadpool says “Looks are everything! You ever heard David Beckham speak?” Then, he goes on to compare his voice to a can of helium.
Since then, the Merc with a Mouth has seen the error of his ways and wanted to make sure there were no hard feelings between him and the soccer star.
Therefore, to show he’s truly sorry (or to promote the Deadpool 2 movie), Reynolds shot a video of Deadpool apologizing to Beckham.
Deadpool texts Beckham that he’s sorry and comes to his door with a variety of gifts to win back his love. However, after the milk and cookies and mariachi band, Beckham finally accepts the apology with a pair of soccer tickets.
However, the joke is on Reynolds, because Beckham doesn’t know exactly why Deadpool is apologizing.
When asked why he thought Deadpool was apologizing he mocked a list of Reynold’s worst movies – Green Lantern, Self/less, Blade Trinity, and R.I.P.D.
Despite everything Deadpool did to win back David Beckham, it all went downhill. Guess the relationship is still up in the air.
Stan Lee's Cameo Was Turned into Graffiti Art Because of Scheduling Issues
If you blinked, you probably missed Stan Leo’s cameo in Deadpool 2. This is because it wasn’t a traditional Lee cameo. Instead of an in-person cameo, the iconic Marvel writer and producer was sketched in graffiti art.
According to director David Leitch, you can see the art while Domino is flying through the air.
He says, “It’s a huge graffiti of Stan Lee as she’s flying past this building. It’s almost half the frame… well, actually a third of the frame”.
Many fans believe that Stan Lee’s cameo was reduced to graffiti because of his health. Lee’s health has declined since the death of his wife and this has forced him to cancel some of his public appearances.
Recently, it was also revealed that Lee was subject to emotional, physical, and financial abuse by his daughter, J.C. Lee and three men that she associates with.
However, Lee’s health isn’t the reason why he doesn’t make an on-screen cameo in Deadpool 2. It was actually because of scheduling issues.
Leitch said, “We’re always aware that you want to get a Stan Lee appearance in there, but it wasn’t his health that was the issue for us. It was more like what would work and what was the time and place, and our schedule was tight and things got away from us. So by the time we were done with the movie, we were thinking where could we plug him in during reshoots.”
Ryan Reynolds Had a Stunt Dancer in the Deadpool 2 Music Video
As fans eagerly waited for the release of Deadpool 2, the franchise dropped a music video featuring Céline Dion and Deadpool.
As part of the movie’s PR campaign, the video showcased Dion singing an original song for the movie’s soundtrack and a rhythmic Deadpool dancing his heart out.
“Did you ever wonder how Ryan Reynolds dances so beautifully? Did he have 8 bones surgically removed from his body?”
Ryan Reynolds tweeted, “The answer may surprise you. Yes. I did have 8 bones removed from my body. But the dancing was all @yanismarshall. This man is not just a dancer… he’s an elite athlete, hero, and all around hilarious person… Throw confetti at his feet when you see him. He is a gift to this weary world”.
Yanis Marshall, a French dancer and choreographer, donned Deadpool’s costume and provided the character with his amazing dance moves in the music video. He’s the entire reason why Deadpool can dance like a beautiful swan.
Marshall also debuted as Deadpool at the 2018 CinemaCon. For the convention’s opening, Deadpool took center stage with a huge song and dance number.
However, the man underneath the mask was not Ryan Reynolds, but Yanis Marshall once again.
The Directors and Writers Changed Throughout Production of the Movie
Tim Miller, the director of the first Deadpool movie, was set to direct the sequel. However, he left the production in October 2016 due to creative differences with Ryan Reynolds.
The two simply couldn’t agree on who should be cast to play Cable. They also argued about the tone of the new film. While Miller wanted the sequel to be more bombastic, Reynolds wanted to focus more on the whit and humor that made the first movie such a success.
Miller also wanted to do a more stylized version of the movie which would have cost about three times as much as the first movie's budget.
He was asking for a lot more money to take a risk and try something new. However, Reynolds, Rhett Reese, and Paul Wernick simply weren’t on board.
Therefore, John Wick director David Leitch was recruited to replace Miller. He brought expertise in action movies and even spent time as a stunt coordinator.
However, he currently isn’t expected to have any involvement in the next Deadpool movie.
The director wasn’t the only role that was changed throughout the production of Deadpool 2. Originally, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were the only screenwriters for the movie. However, Ryan Reynolds and Drew Goddard stepped in to provide more direction on the film’s script.
Taylor Swift's Cats Made a Cameo
In Deadpool 2, Deadpool attempts to take his own life after the loss of his girlfriend, Vanessa. He is unsuccessful and is ultimately saved by his best bud, Colossus. The giant tin man takes him in and helps him on his road to recovery.
While moping around the X-Mansion, Wade Wilson is wearing the ultimate cat-lover’s loungewear. He’s sporting gray pants, a green hoodie, and a shirt with two kittens on it.
If you look closely at the shirt, you’ll see that the caption underneath the kittens reads, “Olivia and Meredith, Friends Furrrever.”
Olivia and Meredith are Taylor Swift’s cats, or as she likes to call them, her “fuzzy daughters.”
Ryan Reynolds, the man behind the Deadpool mask, is married to Blake Lively, who just happens to be close friends with Taylor Swift.
The Reynolds’ eldest daughter even provides the opening baby voice heard at the beginning of Swift’s song "Gorgeous". Therefore, we probably have this friendship to thank for the cute little Deadpool Easter egg.
Swift was so excited to see her furry friends on the big screen that she posted the scene on her Instagram Story along with the caption: “I’m so proud of my fuzzy daughters. Thanks @vancityreynolds.”
Josh Brolin Ate Exactly 48 Almonds a Day to Become Cable
Josh Brolin has been the main antagonist in two of the most recent major superhero movies.
In Avengers: Infinity War, he portrayed Thanos, the all-mighty Mad Titan bent on destroying half of the universe. For this role, Brolin relied a lot on CGI and therefore didn’t have to get into shape.
Brolin told Comicbook.com that although he had to learn how to use the mo-cap, he didn’t have to be in great shape for Infinity War. In fact, “there were cheat days every day.”
However, he actually had to train for the role of Cable. Brolin recalls that while he was shaping up to become Cable, he ran into Dave Bautista at the gym and the former wrestler said “What happened to you? What did you do?”
Well, Brolin detailed everything that he did on his Instagram account. He did drop sets “to the point where you can’t even lift the weight of your own arms,” did 45-minutes of boxing on his off days, and a lot of arm days.
For his diet, Brolin said that he ate three hard meals of chicken or salmon, a cup of vegetables, and exactly 48 almonds a day. Then he rewarded himself with one cheat day per week.
Ryan Reynolds Banned His Kids from Coming on Set Because They Were Scared of Him
Ryan Reynolds very rarely shuts out his life from his wife and kids. However, he found that there was one part of his life that he had to keep away from his children.
During an interview for ABC’s Lights, Camera, Summer, Reynolds revealed that Weasel wasn’t the only person that was disturbed by Wade Wilson’s face - so were his children.
One day, his daughters, 3-year-old James and 1-year-old Inez came to visit the set and were completely shocked and scared by their dad’s scarred Wade Wilson face.
Apparently, they were so scared that Inez couldn't stop sobbing the entire time she saw her dad in the costume.
Reynolds said, “I leave in the morning looking like Dad and by the time, you know, they arrive at lunchtime, I look like I fell asleep on a stove. It’s pretty brutal.”
Therefore, Reynolds and wife Blake Lively decided that the kids were no longer allowed to come to the set when he was in the scarred makeup. “They can come in when I’m in the suit, but not the makeup”.
This may ultimately be a good thing as Deadpool isn’t the most kid-friendly superhero. Reynolds tries to keep his children away from curse words and although he loves playing the “Merc with a Mouth,” he doesn’t want his little girls imitating daddy.
Zazie Beetz Didn't Realize She Didn't Shave Her Armpits
If you watched Deadpool 2, you may have noticed that although she’s lucky, Domino isn’t the most clean-shaven superhero. This was actually an accident turned creative choice.
Domino is represented as a strong, independent female superhero, which is very different from portrayals of female characters in other cinematic universes.
The actress who plays her, Zazie Beetz, defies the standards of beauty and shows Domino as a true feminine superhero that simply doesn’t have time to focus on her looks.
She believes that if superheroes were real, they’d barely have time to shower, let alone shave their armpit hairs.
Beetz came across this insight on accident though. While filming for Deadpool 2, she was so busy that she didn’t realize that she had let her armpit hair grow out.
Her boyfriend told her that it was a good idea to keep the hair and Beetz ultimately agreed.
She said, “It’s interesting how strongly people really do feel about armpit hair on women. They have very, very strong opinions about that. But I felt, you know, like that’s not about me, right? That’s about social conditioning and about people’s perceptions of what women should look like. And you know, I felt if people got offended by that, that’s not something I really have to worry about.”
Fox Gave Deadpool 2 the Shot of Hugh Jackman
Deadpool 2 is full of hilarious and unexpected cameos. However, one of the best cameos is definitely Hugh Jackman as Wolverine during the movie’s post-credit scenes.
Using Cable's time-traveling device, Deadpool goes back in time to re-write some of his and Ryan Reynolds’ worst mistakes.
One of these wrongs was Deadpool’s appearance in X-Men: Origins. Reynolds wasn’t happy with where Deadpool ended up at the end of this movie and therefore he brought Wolverine back for a re-do.
However, if you know your X-Men movies, you may have noticed that this scene was extremely familiar.
Hugh Jackman wasn’t actually brought on set to film the cameo. The scene was taken directly from the infamously loathed movie, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
Hugh Jackman and 20th Century Fox both had to give the movie crew permission to use the scene. However, according to screenwriter Rhett Reese, it was actually pretty easy.
“Hugh Jackman was very supportive. We needed his permission. But he and Ryan are frenemies, you know, online and in the public. But they’re actually good friends, and he was very supportive, so that was awesome.”
The movie thanked Hugh Jackman in the credits of the movie for his support.
TJ Miller Was Accused of Sexual Assualt During Production and It Turned into an Easter Egg
In December 2017, TJ Miller was accused of sexual assault leaving fans wondering if he would return in Deadpool 2.
Although the filming for the movie was already completed, there was a viral joke that suggested Christopher Plummer should replace TJ Miller as Weasel and the film should act like nothing happened.
This joke surfaced because Christopher Plummer stepped in at the last minute to replace Kevin Spacey in All the Money in the World. After Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct, the director digitally removed the actor from the movie and replaced him with Plummer.
Although Deadpool 2 never digitally removed TJ Miller from the movie, they did acknowledge the joke. During the Deadpool 2, we see a news report playing on the screen.
If you look closely at the news ticker on the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a headline that reads, “Christopher Plummer Refuses Role in Deadpool 2.”
This Easter egg recognizes the controversy and provides a witty reason why they didn’t replace Miller.
TJ Miller isn’t out of trouble though. He was arrested in April 2018 for allegedly calling in a bomb threat from an Amtrak train. He is currently facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Although Ryan Reynolds doesn’t know whether there will, or should, be a Deadpool 3, he has confirmed in a recent New York Times interview that TJ Miller will not be returning as Jack Hammer or Weasel in any sequels or X-Force spin-offs.
The Cast and Crew Didn't Know About Matt Damon's Cameo
At the beginning of Deadpool 2, we watch a seemingly out-of-place conversation about toilet paper between two hillbillies. One of these hillbillies is played by Alan Tudyk, an actor from Firefly. The other was credited as “Dickie Greenleaf.”
However, you may have picked up that Dickie Greenleaf is a reference to Matt Damon’s movie, The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999).
This hillbilly is Matt Damon covered in a beard, prosthetics, fake beer belly, and a baseball bat. However, don’t worry if you didn’t recognize him – the movie’s cast and crew didn’t know who he was either.
The crew wasn’t told that Damon was going to be in the movie and his name was listed on the call sheet under a pseudo.
According to David Leitch, “Nobody knew what the scene was about, they were like, ‘Why are we shooting these two rednecks?’ We just didn’t tell anybody.”
There were even some people on set who had worked with Damon on other movies, seeing him every single day. Not even they were able to identify the hillbilly after three hours of makeup.
Damon agreed to play the part after Ryan Reynolds had dinner with him. Over dinner, Reynolds told Damon about the gag and simply asked if he wanted to do it.
SJ Harris, the First African-American Roadster, Passed Away on Set
Joi “SJ” Harris is known as the first African-American female road racer. She was working as Zazie Beetz’s stunt double on Deadpool 2 when she tragically lost her life.
Harris was portraying Domino during a stunt that she had completed about four times. However, on her fifth attempt, she lost control of her motorcycle and crashed into the glass of a building.
As Domino doesn’t wear a helmet in the scene, Harris also wasn’t wearing a helmet.
According to an investigation report by WorkSafeBC, Harris was only going 10 mph during the crash.
The report read that “the stunt driver continued driving beyond the planned stopping spot on the stairway landing, and continued to drive down a second ramp built over the bottom stairs and across the roadway. The motorcycle struck the concrete sidewalk curb, the worker was thrown off the motorcycle and propelled through a plate glass window of a building.”
Harris started her career in Brooklyn and was an extremely successful racer.
She advocated for women of color and identified herself as “the first licensed African-American women in US history to actively compete in sanctioned motorcycle road racing events.” Deadpool 2 was her first movie as a stunt double.