as Wade Wilson / Deadpool:
A mercenary who is subjected to an experimental regenerative mutation to cure his
cancer, which gives him accelerated healing superpowers, but severely scars his body.
Reynolds called this version of Deadpool more "authentic" and closer to the comic
version than his X-Men Origins: Wolverine version,[5][6] saying that this Deadpool "takes
nothing seriously."[7]
Morena Baccarin as Vanessa:
An escort and Wilson's girlfriend.[8][9] Baccarin described her as "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.
Ed Skrein as Francis Freeman / Ajax:
An artificially-mutated member of Weapon X, the program that creates Deadpool.[10] Ajax
is a weapons expert, with enhanced strength and an inability to feel pain. [11] According
to Tim Miller, Skrein did "80%" of his own stunts, with stunt doubles only used for rigged
stunts.[12]
T. J. Miller as Weasel:
Wilson's best friend.[13][14] Describing the character, actor T. J. Miller said that Weasel
"looks like his superhero power is spilling mustard on his shirt. Or who was bitten by a
radioactive spider as a child". He initially attempted to give the character a facial tic, but
director Tim Miller rejected the idea. On casting Miller, producer Simon Kinbergexplained
that the film has "a main character who is so outrageous and irreverent, we needed
someone who could keep up with Ryan. We knew that T.J. would bring that." [15]
Gina Carano as Angel Dust:
An artificially-mutated member of Weapon X who possesses superhuman levels of
strength, stamina and speed.[16] Carano was given "some room to play with" the
characterization of Angel Dust, and said that the "character trusts Ajax with everything.
She pretty much only really responds to him. He...kinda created me and showed me
everything. And I do the same thing to everyone else."[17]
Leslie Uggams as Blind Al:
An elderly blind woman and Deadpool's roommate.[18] Uggams said that Al has "been
through British Intelligence, she's done all kinds of wild and crazy things. She had sight at
one time, but she lost her sight. But she's adjusted very well...she's old, but she's feisty."
On Al's relationship with Deadpool, Uggams said that Al "loves being a part of" Wade's
double life and "loves the danger part of him".[19]
Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead:
A teenage X-Men trainee who possesses the mutant power to detonate atomic bursts
from her body.[20] The writers chose to use the character based on her name, and
changed her abilities from telepathic and precognitive powers to "a literal warhead
because we thought it was funnier." To do this, they required permission from Marvel,
with Miller talking directly with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to do so.[21]
Stefan Kapii as the voice of Colossus:
An X-Men with the mutant ability to transform his entire body into organic steel. The role
was originally offered to Daniel Cudmore, who played the character in X2, X-Men: The
Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, but he declined.[12] Instead, Colossus
became a performance by several actors: Kapii provided the voice, [22] Andre
Tricoteux provided the on-set performance,[23] T. J. Storm provided the final body motion
performance,[23] motion capture supervisor Greg LaSalle provided the final facial
performance,[24] and Glenn Ennis was used as "the inspiration for the chiseled jaw look
behind the character".[23]
Additionally, Karan Soni portrays Dopinder, a taxi driver,
[25]
and Jed Rees portrays a Weapon X recruiter.[12] X-Men co-
creator Stan Lee and Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeldmake
cameo appearances as a strip club MC and a patron of
Weasel's bar, respectively.[26][27] Rob Hayter briefly appears
as Bob, a recurring character alongside Deadpool's comic
appearances.[27] The film does not reference Bob's comic history
as an agent of Hydra, due to rights issues with Marvel Studios.
[28]
Production[edit]
Development[edit]
"There's definitely a sort of overall plan that we've all been talking about
for the X-Men universe now, and Deadpool obviously fits into that. So
yeah, I guess I would say it's part of certainly an overall timeline and
thought process that goes into these films."
Producer Simon Kinberg on Deadpool's place in the X-Menfilm series[29]
Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel
Entertainment to coproduce, finance, and distribute a film based
on Deadpool in May 2000,[30] while New Line Cinema attempted
to produce a Deadpool film in February 2004, withDavid S.
Goyer working on the script and Ryan Reynolds in the title role;
[31][32]
Reynolds became interested in the character after
discovering that Deadpool refers to his own appearance as
"Ryan Reynolds crossed with a Shar-Pei" inCable & Deadpool.
[33][34]
By August, Goyer lost interest in favor of other projects.[35] In
March 2005, after New Line putDeadpool in turnaround, 20th
Century Fox became interested in the project.[36]
Fox began moving on a Deadpool spin-off early in the
development of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which had Reynolds
as Deadpool in its cast,[31] and after the opening weekend
success of that film announced that it was lending Deadpoolout
to writers, with Lauren Shuler Donner producing the project.
[37]
Donner wanted the film to reboot the character of Deadpool,
ignoring the version in X-Men Origins: Wolverineand including
attributes that the character has in the comics, such as breaking
the fourth wall.[38] Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were hired to
write the script in January 2010,[39]and in a month an early draft
leaked online,[40] garnering a positive response from fans that
prompted Fox to grant a small budget for test footage. [41] Robert
Rodriguez was sent another early draft of the screenplay in
June 2010,[42] but negotiations fell through, and Tim Miller was
eventually hired as director, in April 2011.[43] Adam Berg was
also in the running to direct at one point.[44]
In July 2014, the test footage for the film, which had been
created with visual effects in 2012 and starred Reynolds
through motion capture, was leaked online.[45][46] Blur Studio, the
company that created the test footage, subsequently released it
officially.[47] The footage received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic
response online,[46] and in September 2014, Fox
gave Deadpool a release date of February 12, 2016.[48] Kinberg
confirmed a month later that Deadpool would be part of the XMen shared cinematic universe.[49] Over the years of
development, Reese and Wernick wrote additional versions of
the script, including a PG-13 version. During the writing
process, both James Cameron and David Fincher read early
versions of the script, and each of them went to Fox and told
them they needed to greenlight the movie, helping to get it out
of development hell.[50] Reese felt that ultimately, "about seventy
percent" of the initial draft ended up in the final film. [51] Changes
during rewrites include the removal of the Marvel
characters Garrison Kane andCannonball from the film, due to
budgetary concerns over the required CGI for his cybernetic
arms, and the perception of a "stupid hick character",
respectively.[12] Wyre, initially an additional villain, was also cut,
[52]
with the three replaced by Angel Dust.[53] Plans to have the
Marvel superhero Cable appear were halted when it was
decided that he would work better in a potential sequel.[52]
