A special message from the desk of thurston deadpool, III, esquire

ZAZIE BEETZ AS DOMINO

As well as giving Deadpool and Cable life, Rob Liefeld also created Domino, introducing her in New Mutants #98, the same issue in which Deadpool debuted. Liefeld says, “Deadpool took everybody down in the course of 10 pages, and Domino took Deadpool down in one page! She’s capable. She can go toe-to-toe with anybody, especially Deadpool

and Cable. She is a badass combatant with a unique power. It’s an unknown power of probabilities, kind of a luck power. She’s wonderfully unpredictable in that way.” Liefeld was delighted with the casting of Zazie Beetz. “I cheered the day they cast her. I thought, ‘she’s perfect,’ because who else is going to stand toe-to-toe with Ryan and take none of his crap? And Zazie as Domino has achieved that. It’s just a great dynamic.”

“I feel very honoured to be bringing the role to life,” says Beetz, “And be the first live action Domino, to be entrusted with that. I’m black, and she doesn’t look black. That did concern me, but I really appreciated

it when Rob Liefeld told me that he’d never assigned a race to her. And if you read the comics, she has different aliases that are very international names.”

Wernick notes that Domino is also a stalwart of X-Force. He says, “It’s this ragtag group of dysfunctional, morally improper or uncentered folks. She doesn’t put up with Deadpool’s shit at all. She rolls her eyes and can’t believe she’s involved with this ragtag group of fuck-ups and yet, that’s exactly where she fits in. I feel like the audience will just fall in love with Domino, as we all have.”

Wernick says, “Zazie is so funny and so fresh. She brings a youthfulness and a Millennial- eye-roll feel to a world where Deadpool is a 40-year-old dude. And so, to us, she’s a little bit of the audience in a front-row seat to Deadpool’s annoying craziness.”

“Domino is lucky,” says Beetz. “I think that because she’s sort of jaded, she takes it for granted. She’s sarcastic and sardonic. She goes head to head with Deadpool, and doesn’t take his shit. Domino does her own thing. She’s not really a sidekick, she holds her own. She’s a mercenary and does her job and then heads out. She knows what she’s got, and it’s interesting because that


DID YOU KNOW?

42% of men and 25% of women don’t wash their hands after using a public toilet (cough*Hugh Jackman*coughcough)

can open up the discussion of where does that luck end and begin? Because her past is quite tragic. I find it an interesting juxtaposition. She’s lucky, but to what extent? If everything just works out for you, then what’s the point in even being motivated to do anything? She struggles with that a lot.”

JULIAN DENNISON AS RUSSELL / FIREFIST

The breakout star of “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” the highest- grossing picture in New Zealand film history, Julian Dennison plays Russell, who ultimately becomes Firefist. Dennison was 14-years-old while filming “Deadpool 2.” He points out that he wasn’t old enough to watch the first film when it came out, and had to watch a clean version. “I skipped all the naughty parts, but it’s still one of the funniest films of all time.” As for being protected from the naughty parts of “Deadpool 2,” he quips, “I’m part of those naughty parts! I can’t wait for my family to see it, they’ll leave the theatre going – ‘what have they turned my child into!?’” Dennison says, “When we
first meet Russell, he’s at an orphanage run by a crazy, insane man. Russell is at a low point, he’s really angry and sad and just wants to let it all out and blow stuff up. As Firefist, he’s able to shoot fireballs out of his hands. His powers are an extension of himself, it’s how he speaks if he’s full of rage. By the end of the film, he is very strong and knows how to use his powers and control them.” Dennison says that Firefist’s choreography is inspired by the Maori haka, a traditional war dance (New Zealand’s rugby team, the ‘All Blacks,’ has a well-know haka). He says, “The Maori would do it before a war to call upon the gods to help. Firefist is very strong when he’s using it.”

“Firefist provides Deadpool the connection to his old life,” says Wernick. “It’s a little bit of the father- son, except Deadpool is just the worst father in the world. He’s obscene, obnoxious, annoying, the rule-breaker.”

“I was a huge fan, as we all were, of “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,”” says Sood. “You had no idea how much of that character is Julian. He is one of a kind. He’s such a natural actor. So likeable and so precise in his comedic timing it’s amazing to watch him. Playing opposite Ryan and Josh, he is up against some pretty formidable costars and he holds his own.”

MORENA BACCARIN AS VANESSA

Morena Baccarin returns as Vanessa, the love of Wade Wilson’s life. She says, “Much like the first movie, this is really fun, action-packed, funny and the true heart in it is very palpable and

beautiful. It’s heartbreaking. It’s a beautiful story of life and love and coming to terms with what it means to have a family.”

“Working with Ryan is always great,” she says. “He’s really funny and dedicated to this project. He’s really focused and it helps because you’re able to get a

lot of work done quickly, but you’re having fun while you’re doing it. There’s definitely a lot of ad-lib, but it’s mostly him throwing one-liners my way – but a couple of times I got in there.”

Discussing the success of the first film,

Baccarin says, “ I think people love how irreverent

the whole thing is. Not just his character, but the movie - nothing is too precious. Everybody’s a mark. Nobody is safe from the

humour of being made fun of. It doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable moments. It just stares you right in the face, but in a really fun, fun way.”

She enjoyed working with Leitch. “David’s been awesome,” she says. “He’s really calm, really centred. You feel like it should be more tortuous to do a movie like this, although I will say they tortured me with a lot of underwater work,” she quips. In this film, Baccarin had to film several scenes underwater. She says, “One of my biggest fears is scuba diving. And they texted me: ‘how do you feel about getting in a large tank and doing underwater stunts?’ I replied ‘this is not a texting conversation, this is more of a phone call conversation!’ They talked me through it and said I’d require some scuba training. I was up for trying and facing my fears. I got in the tank and I did it. And I will say that I don’t want to do it again. I think I was underwater, way down in a chair for 20 minutes at a time trying to act a scene. It was terrifying.”