Deadpool & Wolverine is a movie full of iconic and memorable moments, but for many fans, the Merc with the Mouth's trip through the Multiverse to find an appropriate Wolverine Variant is a standout sequence.
It's not exactly hard to see why; we follow Wade Wilson as he encounters the likes of Age of Apocalypse Wolverine, Old Man Logan, and even a version of the clawed mutant wearing John Byrne's classic brown and tan suit...for a fight with The Hulk!
Last week, we caught up with Deadpool & Wolverine Editors Dean Zimmerman and Shane Reid to discuss their incredible work on the latest MCU movie.
During our conversation, we asked about reports they came up with the idea of adding those Wolverine Variants when work on the threequel was halted as a result of last year's WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
Dean and Shane explained their creative process and revealed that the brown and tan comic-accurate suit cost a whopping $100,000 to create! It's because of those costs that there were ultimately only so many Variants that could receive the spotlight...
I’ve seen other interviews where you’ve talked about pitching a much grander version of the Wolverine Variants sequence during the downtime caused by the strikes. There are characters from the comics I never expected to see, but were there any you pushed for that didn’t make the cut?
Dean: Yeah, there was a whole bunch of them.
Shane: There were some funny ones.
Dean: One of our storyboard artists was a huge comic book fan and he gave us a list of, like, ten of them. There was also, and maybe no on really likes to hear this, time and budget issues you have to deal with as well. Here’s a perfect example: the brown and tan, we spent around $100,000 building that suit. They’re expensive. To build this kind of stuff…we have to get a little economical with what we could actually come up with and do. So, yeah, ‘Hugh, can you take your shirt off be bolted to a cross?’ ‘Yeah, I can do that, no problem.’ ‘Great, let’s get a bunch of pink skulls, throw ‘em down there, and light it in the way of the comic book.’ ‘Can you be an old man?’ ‘Sure!’ They were all thought out but also done with budget in mind and also time. We didn’t have much time. Once we resumed shooting, our deadline on this movie was so tight. When we went back to photography in London, we did have a finite amount of time and even coming up with all those ideas, once we got back, we were like, ‘Hey everyone, we’re going to do this’ and everyone’s heads are exploding. How are we going to do this in the time we have left?
Shane: The reason we could is because we were able to shed some things. That time between the break, we used as well as we could. Dean and I did a hard pitch to Shawn and Ryan about that sequence and, again, being in a relationship with collaborators who see your vision and then run with it, because we were economically able to take some things out we might have wanted to get or didn’t need any more, we were able to fit that in. Dean and I have said this a few times, but the film benefited from that break. We luckily were able to problem solve things and come up with new things. It’s one of those things that while it was a challenge and scary at the time, in some ways, it helped in this experience for us to push the film a little bit further.
You’ve blown my mind with that statistic about the brown and tan suit costing $100,000.
Dean: Like I said, it’s one of those things that’ll stand the test of time. Just the costumers…it’s all handmade. It’s all done to an inch of Hugh’s body. To shoot it all as well.
Shane: Yeah, it’s a lot.
It really is a staggering sum but one that makes it easier to understand how movies like Deadpool & Wolverine end up having such huge production budgets.
Was it worth it? Given the response from fans, we'd say the answer to that is a resounding "yes," particularly when it's a costume fans have spent decades of dreaming of seeing in live-action (there are those who prefer it to the blue and yellow suit Hugh Jackman donned for the majority of this movie).
Be sure to watch the full interview with Dean and Shane above and check back here soon for more highlights from our conversation with the filmmakers.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now available on Digital platforms (Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango) and claws its way onto 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 22.