Two weeks before shooting and still no approved Deadpool look... We arranged for Ryan Reynolds to come to ADI for a makeup test to develop the basic template for the not-yet fully formed Deadpool. Keep in mind for the screen version he was pulled from the medical process early, so in the film, Wade is actually pre-Deadpool. At this point, unknown if the story goes to the next step...
Studio ADI - Alec Gillis (Left) and Tom Woodruff Jr. (Right) Special effects company, Amalgamated Dynamics, Inc. (ADI), was founded in 1988 by Stan Winston alumni Tom Woodruff, Jr. and Alec Gillis. Their company has been wowing audiences with their mastery of practical effects, like animatronics and prosthetic make-up. They won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects on Bruce Willis and Goldie Hawn's
Death Becomes Her and earned an Oscar nomination for
Starship Troopers, based on their amazing creature designs.
CBM: I've always been curious about the last minute decision to add an after credits scene in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine that featured Weapon XI/Deadpool. Could you tell me a bit about that?
Tom Woodruff, Jr.: During post production someone involved in the film had let an in progress copy of the film leak to the internet. It's considered piracy, and a spoiler like that can cost the studio millions and millions of dollars. To keep something a surprise, a new ending was conceived. Secrecy was so strict that Fox had to schedule a special shoot on a Sunday when there would be minimal people around to shoot the tag of Deadpool's hand searching for his dis-embodied head. They came up with a fake name for the production and it was the smallest of crews. Not even the guards at the gates knew what we were doing. My arm (Tom) was made up to match the Deadpool markings and Ryan slid his body under a shell that held the foam rocks and debris up to his chin. CBM: Do you have any interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits about Kevin Durand playing Fred Dukes/The Blob?
Alec Gillis: In the comic books, Blob towers over Wolverine, which isn't hard because Wolverine is short. But at 6'2" not many actors tower over Hugh Jackman. 6'5" Kevin Durand was a good choice. We needed to create a pumped up muscle body for him, so we took a full body cast. Sculpture, molding, running the rubber took about 6 weeks. When Kevin came in for the fitting, he had been diligently working out, and he was almost as big as the sculpted body! He could barely get into it! He said "I thought I was helping!" We told him the best way to help was to stop working out!
When it came to wearing the Fat Blob suit and makeup, he was a complete stud. After about 4 hours of application time, Kevin still had the energy to shoot 12 hour days, doing the Ali shuffle and boxing under about 30 lbs of rubber. In retrospect, it's hard to imagine anyone else in that role.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) - was directed by Gavin Hood, from a script written by David Benioff and Skip Woods. The film starred: Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch, Kevin Durand and Ryan Reynolds. The movie grossed over $370 million at the worldwide box office.
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