Deadpool & Wolverine: How Marvel managed to keep the year’s most anticipated superhero movie a secret

Like Wade Wilson, who spills a lot of blood in his movies, Deadpool & Wolverine spilled a lot of ink (and rattled a lot of keyboard keys). Between the announcement of the third installment of the franchise, Disney’s takeover of Fox, the arrival of Wolverine and his yellow suit, cameo rumors, the actors’ strike, the name of the film’s main antagonist, the ban. Kids under 12 like the prequels (although fans were afraid Disney would clean up the film), the different versions of the two heroes or even the identity of Lady Deadpool (Taylor Swift, Blake Lively, Morena Baccarin), news surrounding the film. was rich.

How can we keep such a big blockbuster a secret? How to inspire trailers without revealing too much? How to hide from the paparazzi when shooting outdoor scenes? We asked these questions to director Sean Levy during the promotion Deadpool & WolverineHe knew that he could not reveal anything about the plot of his feature film.

And the Canadian director is no stranger to mysteries, as we owe him the Netflix series Stranger Things.

AlloCiné: How do you go about promoting a movie you can’t say anything about?

Sean Levy : It’s a very good question! From the beginning, we felt that the interest of this film was based on surprise, on giving something unexpected to the audience. And, of course, if everyone knows everything in advance, there is no possibility of surprises. So we had to be very careful what we said, what we put in all our trailers.

We’ve given the community a taste of what they can expect, but we haven’t given them everything, far from it. I feel like as an audience we love to discover and be surprised and so we were really committed to keeping that in the film.

AlloCiné: How did you manage to keep the script a secret? where was it kept Were the actors able to read it in full?

Sean Levy : Marvel, thankfully, is very experienced when it comes to secrets. They shot about thirty films. For my part, I also have a little experience in this field, thanks Stranger Things I have been working on it for many years.

Most of the actors were not even given the entire script.

But Marvel is very strict about security protocols. You never have a paper version of the script. Most of the actors were not even given the entire script. This allowed everyone to know what to do, while reducing risks.

The only exception is that I didn’t want to make a film just on set and green screen. I didn’t want to make a movie with computer generated images everywhere. So we shot the scenes outdoors to give the film real authenticity. But we knew the paparazzi would find us, and we quickly found photos online, and that’s good, because it’s worth giving the audience a film that feels authentic, real, and shot in real locations.

AlloCiné: After being targeted by paparazzi on the set, Ryan Reynolds asked fans not to share photos to avoid spoiling the audience. How did the filming go? Was security maximized? And shoot a fake scene to mislead them?

Sean Levy : I remember very early on we talked about the possibility of faking it, just to rub people the wrong way. We were able to do much of the filming in complete secrecy. But there was this series where we were shooting in a quarry, and one day while we were shooting, we looked up and saw a small army of paparazzi.

We looked up and saw a small army of paparazzi.

We were shooting a scene between Deadpool and Wolverine in costume. So we decided to publish the official photo that day. We wanted people to see red and yellow in a matching way, so it made sense to feature a nice photo.

Ryan Reynolds then posted a message to his 100 million followers asking them to keep some secrets. And we promise, these surprises are worth it!

AlloCiné: Did you manage to keep it a secret from your family?

Sean Levy : Oh, no, I talk too much! I risk constant spoilers. So I told my wife and my four daughters everything. Fortunately, they knew that father would be in a lot of trouble if he opened his mouth outside the family and they respected these rules.

worn by Ryan Reynolds (also co-written and produced), Hugh Jackman, Emma Corinne and Matthew Macfadyen, Deadpool & Wolverine follows Wade Wilson in his third adventure. After joining the Avengers team, he bounces from one small job to another without really finding his way. Until the day a high-ranking officer of the anachronistic Variation Court offers him a mission worthy of his… on the condition that he sees his world and everyone he loves destroyed. After flatly refusing, Wade dons the Deadpool costume once more and tries to convince Wolverine to help him save the world…

Deadpool & Wolverine You can find it in your dark rooms.