Director Shawn Levy Shares Troubling Update Regarding ‘Deadpool 3’
John F. Trent
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Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy recently shared a troubling update on the film specifically in how he is filming the movie.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 01: Shawn Levy attends the Black Panther: Wakanda Forever NY Red Carpet Screening at the AMC 34th St. on November 01, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Disney)
Speaking with Slashfilm, Levy explained he’s been approaching the shooting of the film by just going from scene to scene rather than looking at the film as a whole.
He told the outlet, “I’m making Deadpool now. It’s a huge Marvel movie co-starring Wolverine, and if I look at the totality of it, it might be intimidating. So I just figure out: ‘What’s the next shot? What’s the next joke? What’s the next moment in the scene?'”
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) prepares to deploy X-Force in Deadpool 2 (2016), Marvel Entertainment
This type of filmmaking appears to be what DC Studios CEO James Gunn has repeatedly been criticizing and one that he’s pointed to as hurting numerous superhero movies.
Speaking with Michael Rosenbaum in June, Gunn was asked if there were too many superhero shows and movies.
The Superman: Legacy director responded, “Yes. Yeah, I do think there’s too many.”
Rosenbaum then asked what he’s going to do about it. Gunn answered, “But I don’t think it’s not…it’s much less a problem of too many. And yes, we are not going to overextend ourselves at DC. We’re going to be very careful with the product that we put out and making sure everything is as good as it can possibly be.”
James Gunn attends the European Premiere of Marvel Studios’ “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 3” in Disneyland Paris on April 22, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by StillMoving.Net for Disney)
Gunn then shared, “I think that what’s happened is people have gotten really lazy with their superhero stories and they have gotten to the place where, ‘Oh it’s a superhero let’s make a movie about it!’ And they make, ‘Oh! Let’s make a sequel because the first one did pretty well.’ And they aren’t thinking about why is this story special. What makes this story stand apart from other stories? What is the story at the heart of it all? Why is this character important? What makes this story different? That it fills a need for people in theaters to go see or on television.”
“And I think that people have gotten a little lazy,” he reiterated. “And there’s a lot of biff, pow, bam stuff happening in movies. Like I’m watching third acts of superhero films where I really just don’t feel like there’s a rhyme or reason to what’s happening. I don’t care about the characters.”
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives to confront Firefist (Julian Dennison) for the first time in Deadpool 2 (2018), Marvel Entertainment via Blu-ray
Gunn had previously discussed the idea of superhero fatigue in April with Rolling Stone telling the outlet, “I think there is such a thing as superhero fatigue.” However, the then posited, “I think it doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes.”
He went on to explain, “It has to do with the kind of stories that get to be told, and if you lose your eye on the ball, which is character.”
“We love Superman. We love Batman. We love Iron Man. Because they’re these incredible characters that we have in our hearts. And if it becomes just a bunch of nonsense onscreen, it gets really boring,” he elaborated.
James Gunn and Chris Pratt attend the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 Premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood CA on Thursday, April 27, 2023.
(Photo: Alex J. Berliner/ABImages)
He continued, “But I get fatigued by most spectacle films, by the grind of not having an emotionally grounded story. It doesn’t have anything to do with whether they’re superhero movies or not.”
Gunn then asserted, “If you don’t have a story at the base of it, just watching things bash each other, no matter how clever those bashing moments are, no matter how clever the designs and the VFX are, it just gets fatiguing, and I think that’s very, very real.”
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool in Deadpool (2016), 20th Century Fox
Back at the end of January during a press event for his DC Universe slate, Gunn also remarked on what appeared to be the Marvel Studios way of making films, “People have become beholden to dates, to holding dates, to getting movies made no matter what. At the end of the day, I’m a writer at…heart, and we’re not going to be making movies before the screenplay is finished,” Gunn explained.
“And if that means our plan has to shift a little bit–it’s going to happen, we know it’s going to happen…we’re not going to be making movies and putting hundreds of millions of dollars in a film where a screenplay is only two-thirds of the way done and we have to finish it while we’re making the movie,” he added.
“I’ve seen it happen again and again, and it’s a mess,” Gunn remarked. “I think it’s the primary reason for the deterioration in the quality of films today versus 30 years ago.”
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman provide a hint at what’s to come in Deadpool 3
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There was a bit of a bright spot in that he made it clear he did not want the movie to be another green screen mess like recent Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
He told Slashfilm, “It bums me out that photos have leaked online. But this is the price we pay for committing to real locations. I made a decision very early in prep that even though Deadpool is now in the MCU, I didn’t want another Marvel movie shot on a green screen stage with digital set extensions.
Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy on the set of 20th Century Studios’ FREE GUY. Photo by Alan Markfield. © 2020 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
He also seemingly threw fuel on the fire to the numerous rumors that the film will feature cameos of previous Marvel characters that were initially brought to the big screen by 20th Century Fox.
He said, “Deadpool and Wolverine are iconic Marvel characters; more specifically, iconic Marvel-of-the-Fox-era characters. We’re not going to pretend: ‘Oh, we snap our fingers, and suddenly that Fox legacy doesn’t exist, and it shaped a lot of what we now know as the MCU.’ Fox also shaped Ryan’s career, Hugh’s career and my career. So there’s a lot of history there, and there’s a lot of Marvel history at Fox. And certainly that’s a part of our storytelling.”
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) does Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) a favor in Deadpool 2 (2018), Marvel Entertainment
What do you make of Levy’s comments and how he’s filming Deadpool 3?
NEXT: ‘Stranger Things’ And ‘Deadpool 3’ Director Shawn Levy Provides Update On His Star Wars Film
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