Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds on Why They Didn't Show the Death of the X-Men in DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds recently offered some insight into one of their big creative choices in the film, to not show the death of the X-Men, and Wolverine’s reaction afterward.
The death of the X-Men is what haunts Wolverine throughout the movie; it’s the thing that keeps him from moving on or feeling any kind of happiness.
As I watched the movie, I wondered if they would ever show a flashback scene offering the audience the details of what happened, but it never came.
While talking to Collider, Levy confirmed that this is something the creative team discussed in great detail, and in the end, he said: "We ended up doing it with a soundscape and with sound design. We did talk about it."
He continued: "But ultimately, it felt like the specifics of those characters' deaths don't matter to this story as much as the way they haunt Logan. And so we chose to keep the focus on him."
Reynolds then chimed in, saying: "It's a little bit what you don't see is more haunting than what you do see. Maybe I'm wrong, Shawn. And I felt like it would cheapen it if you're seeing, you know, all these people, these kids, these grown-ups. The biggest win, I think, for us with the Wolverine character was two things."
He added: "Now, I love that we kind of use the suit as a hair shirt, you know, as a kind of penance that he's wearing this thing that is like a, you know, a punishment that covers this body."
Reynolds also revealed that Logan losing control and murdering the people he mentions was an idea rooted in the comics.
He continued: "Really kind of scratching that itch of Wolverine, you know, like the idea that the Berserker rage takes over, he kills and he can be to a certain degree, indiscriminate about that killing. And that is a big part of the shame.
"Touching on some of that Berserker rage, which is genuinely in the canon of Wolverine and the comics, and getting to sort of acknowledge that he didn't just kill the bad people when he lost it... is pretty damn powerful and not necessarily something you want to see. You want to feel it."
While it would’ve been interesting to see all of this visualized, I think they handled it the right way. It is ultimately more powerful than not showing it.
On top of that, the emotional scenes that come out of it with Hugh Jackman’s performance will leave much more of a lasting impression on audiences. There is something moving and powerful about watching Logan being torn apart inside.