Deadpool and Wolverine director Shawn Levy explains why the camera lingers on Hugh Jackman’s ass for slightly too long in one scene – and it’s because of a Captain America joke.
The moment in question comes in the Marvel movie’s opening 30 minutes and sees Ryan Reynolds’ The Merc with The Mouth dragging a drunk Wolverine via Time Door onto a catwalk on the TVA to meet Paradox.
You may notice, however, that Wolverine’s posterior is sticking out at an angle which was clearly meant to draw attention to Hugh Jackman’s rear end. That choice, according to Levy on the Deadpool and Wolverine director’s commentary, was intentional.
“There was an outtake there, Ryan. We had a line written where you refer to it as Canada’s Ass. That was one of the lines that didn’t make the cut there. But that’s why I did that shot – to feature Canada’s Ass.”
Instead, the line was replaced by Deadpool saying, “Look, he’s actually wearing a costume like he’s not embarrassed to be in a superhero movie for once”, a pointed reference to the X-Men movie franchise’s long, long history of sidestepping comic-accurate costumes in favour of black, moody get-ups.
The choice words of ‘Canada’s Ass’, of course, refers to a running joke in Avengers: Endgame. First mentioned as an off-the-cuff quip by Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark about Chris Evans’ Captain America, The First Avenger then managed to compliment his buns during the unlikely Cap vs. Cap showdown during the 2012 time travel portion of the most recent Avengers movie.
Away from the director’s commentary, a slew of new reveals about Deadpool and Wolverine have been making the rounds thanks to Disney Plus’ making-of documentary Assembled: The Making of Deadpool and Wolverine. They include the movie using superfans to help source its Wolverine variants, Shawn Levy once being in talks for the canceled Gambit movie, and a scrapped story idea that would have involved fake deleted scenes which showed Deadpool had been in the MCU the whole time.
For more, check out the upcoming Marvel movies headed your way soon.