Deadpool 2 is slicing its way across the big screen, cutting down the competition to assume
the box office throne.
Like any good blockbuster, it only got there by trimming its own fat to become as tight
and lean as it could be.
Finding the perfect balance of raunchy chuckles, slam-bang action, and emotional payoff required
a certain amount of trial and error, and now the Deadpool creators have dropped hints about
the scenes that were cut from the film.
Here's a taste of what didn't make it into the theatrical version of Deadpool 2.
Warning, spoilers ahead.
Goodbye Hitler
Director David Leitch told Esquire that originally, a post-credits scene found the time-traveling
Deadpool in a nursery where baby Adolf Hitler sleeps in his crib.
Deadpool rallies his strength and decides to smother the future fuhrer, which apparently
left test screening audiences feeling somewhat uneasy.
Ultimately, the filmmakers realized it wasn't a great way to send people out of the theater.
"Sure, it's baby Hitler, but it is a baby."
Chris cross cameo
For another post-credits gag, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick conceived of a bonus
round of rejected X-Force auditions.
According to Uproxx, one scripted version would have had Chris Evans reprise his role
as the Human Torch from 2005's Fantastic Four.
Given that Evans has always been game to play jokey cameos, there's a good chance he would
have accepted the opportunity.
However, the idea was dropped before any offers were made, in favor of the time travel shenanigans
we got instead.
A pool for 'Pool
Though we lose her early on in the film, there are a number of scenes in which Vanessa appears
and speaks to Wade from the afterlife.
However, one dream sequence that had been particularly difficult to shoot ended up on
the cutting room floor.
Morena Baccarin told Good Morning America that the scene took place in a version of
Vanessa and Wade's apartment that was completely submerged in water.
The filmmakers constructed an aquatic set and put the actors through scuba training.
Baccarin, who has a phobia of being underwater, had to be strapped to a chair while submerged.
"Were you supposed to be terrified?
… No, and I think that's why it didn't work."
Try harder
After the loss of Vanessa, Wade's grief weighs on him so heavily that he tries to do the
one thing his mutant healing abilities won't allow him to do: end his own life.
This was the catalyst for a major bit of comedy that ended up not making the final cut.
Reese and Wernick revealed during a Reddit AMA that, at one stage, there was a montage
of his increasingly absurd attempts to off himself, in which he tried everything from
drinking Drano to jumping into a polar bear enclosure.
Despite the scrapping of the idea, the scenes were shot and are likely to surface on the
eventual Blu-ray release.
Gamblin' man
Back when they were working on the first drafts of the sequel, Reese and Wernick told Business
Insider they hoped to include a previously-shot scene in which Deadpool gives a rousing karaoke
performance of Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" - while taking down a gang of bad guys.
Wernick confessed to being so delighted by Reynolds' performance that he kept the video
on his phone.
The writers' had originally hoped to include it in the sequel - but the gamble has yet
to pay off.
Early drafts
Reynolds has hinted that a large foundational change was made to Deadpool 2 during its development.
He confirmed to Entertainment Weekly,
"In early drafts, we had Deadpool as a dad, and by page, I think, two-and-a-half, we realized
that's a terrible idea."
Reynolds also claimed that one, quote, "sore spot" about the making of Deadpool 2 was Fox's
request to remove a joke made at the expense of Disney.
He wouldn't explain what the joke was, but it's hard not to wonder if the potential Fox/Disney
merger had something to do with the cutting of the scene.
The screenwriters told CBR that there was another early draft with much more Black Tom
Cassidy.
He was intended to survive to the end of the movie and play a part in the climactic orphanage
showdown.
The reduction of his presence was mainly a matter of budget, but Reese consoled fans
by adding,
"We can always go back in time and make anybody alive, so perhaps he'll come back."
Extended scenes
Director David Leitch was aware that he couldn't just lean on senseless violence for the sequel,
and he tried to be mindful of how much was too much.
He told Bloody Disgusting that the opening montage in which Wade mows down a bathhouse
full of yakuza was much more intense before it left the cutting room.
He described a, quote, "seamless 360 shot" that he was particularly sorry to lose.
Another scene that only partly made it into the film includes two delightfully surprising
cameos hidden in plain sight.
Behind prosthetics and thick fake accents are Matt Damon and Alan Tudyk as two country
boys debating the merits of proper bathroom hygiene.
Josh Brolin revealed in a Collider interview that this scene was, quote, "cut in half."
With cameos like these, it's safe to assume the rest of the scene will turn up eventually.
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