Out promoting the just-released animated sequel “Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again,” filmmaker Shawn Levy has offered an update on how the third “Deadpool” film is progressing.
The film was in development for years until Reynolds released an official announcement for the sequel last September and revealed Hugh Jackman reprising his Wolverine role for the feature, which Levy is set to direct.
“Stranger Things” producer Levy has worked with both Reynolds and Jackman before when he directed “Free Guy” and “Real Steel,” respectively. Speaking with Collider this week, Levy confirms the film is remaining very R-rated as he and Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are currently working on the script:
“We are writing, rewriting, developing, prepping ‘Deadpool’ every day now. It is such a blast to laugh every day. It is so delicious to hear and write and come up with these scenes where people are just talking foul.
And the violence is in your face and hardcore, and it’s very much a ‘Deadpool’ movie. And it has Logan in it. And it has Wolverine in it. It’s too fun. I’m having so much fun, and I haven’t even hit the shooting floor yet.
I have to say, developing a ‘Deadpool’ movie is one of the most fun creative experiences of my life because it’s not just that it’s rated R. It’s that it’s so filled with self-awareness, and that makes in-writing very, very fun in a way that is unique to that franchise.
There’s going to be no lack of visual effects. But it’s also a North Star priority for Ryan and I to keep Deadpool raw, gritty, grounded in the ways that those movies have been and that all of us love.”
Levy goes on to say that years ago, he succumbed to studio pressure and edited the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy “The Internship” down from an R-rating to a PG-13, in the process gutting the film. He calls it one of the “few regrets in my career” and he won’t make that mistake again – especially here.
Levy also confirms filming on the new film will kick off “on or about” May next year ahead of its November 2024 release.
