As seen in many social media posts, Josh Brolin is truly going all-out when it comes to playing Cable in the upcoming Deadpool 2 -- but still a big question about the part has lingered. After all, the X-Men universe is not the only comic book franchise to which the actor is currently attached, as he has regularly been showing up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thanos in the last few years. It's a situation that you'd imagine would create a bit of conflict in the casting process, and director David Leitch recently explained to me how it impacted developments behind the scenes:
I think everybody in sort of the Marvel and Fox world considered it, and they take their time and make measured moves. But I think everyone thought it was prudent and was okay in terms of the way Thanos is portrayed and Cable is portrayed. They're very different in styles, and in terms of the way they are presented in the movies, obviously. We couldn't have cast a better Cable. We were filming last night and both of them were on set, and the chemistry is amazing. It's such a fun movie to be on. I'm really grateful.
I sat down with David Leitch earlier this month at San Diego Comic-Con to promote his new movie, Atomic Blonde, and it was at the towards the end of our chat that I steered the conversation towards the in-production Deadpool 2. Recognizing Josh Brolin's long history in comic book movies, I asked if those other roles potentially created any issues when the actor was being considered for the role of Cable. Leitch told me that the idea was greenlit thanks to the very different ways that Cable and Thanos are being portrayed on screen.
David Leitch used the word "obviously" in his explanation, and it was very much warranted. While Josh Brolin has been completely transforming himself physically to play Cable in Deadpool 2, his part as Thanos in the upcoming The Avengers: Infinity War is a motion capture performance that will see the actor hidden by a CGI exterior. While the Marvel Studios visual effects artists will certainly do everything they can to express Brolin's features in the Mad Titan, there will still likely be very few movie-goers who get confused seeing the same star playing two different comic book characters in two different 2018 summer features set in two separate fictional universes.
You can watch Deadpool 2 director David Leitch talk about the casting of comic book movie veteran Josh Brolin (we haven't even talked about Jonah Hex, Oldboy, Men In Black III, and Sin City: A Dame To Kill For...) by clicking play on the video below!
Deadpool 2, which stars Ryan Reynolds, Josh Brolin, Zazie Beetz, Morena Baccarin, T.J. Miller, Brianna Hildebrand, Leslie Uggams and Julian Dennison is now in production, and will be in theaters on June 1, 2018.
