Deadpool & Wolverine Using Practical Sets Was Worth the Leaks/Risk, Says Director Shawn Levy

Shawn Levy recently opened up about the leaks that occurred on the Deadpool & Wolverine set and why he was okay with the risk associated with shooting in exterior locations.

Unlike most of the recent Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, and blockbusters in general, that use sound stages and green screens, Deadpool & Wolverine emphasized practical sets and real-world locations. Naturally, this made the superhero movie more susceptible to set leaks, with paparazzi able to release photos containing spoilers from the movie before Marvel Studios would have likely preferred the information to have been shared online.

While Deadpool actor Ryan Reynolds previously issued a statement in December 2023 about the set photo leaks, Levy has only now just addressed them during an interview with Entertainment Weekly .

“It’s been really challenging because, long before our first day of shooting, Ryan and I, with [Marvel President] Kevin Feige’s blessing, made a decision as producers to have this movie look and shoot different than most other MCU movies,” explained Levy. “That meant limited sound stages, limited green screen, and way, way more practical scenes shot in real-world exterior locations. With that decision came risk, and that risk was illustrated on day 1, shooting in a quarry where a phalanx of paparazzi was perched up above on a hillside. That’s the price we paid for wanting a movie that felt grounded and real. And I will tell you, that’s a price we’re comfortable paying when it comes to some of the secrets and surprises in the movie.”

Deadpool & Wolverine set leaks led Shawn Levy to release the first official photo of the titular duo

In July 2023, set photos began to emerge online showing Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine shooting an action sequence in a clay quarry in London that featured a gigantic 20th Century Fox logo in the background.

Levy confirmed to EW that they knew a bunch of leaks were about to happen, prompting them to pause filming to “take a proper picture that would give the world a proper introduction to these costumes.” The photo, which was shared on Reynolds and Jackman’s social media accounts , featured Deadpool and Wolverine in their new costumes walking down a dirt road.

A sequel to 2018’s Deadpool 2, Deadpool & Wolverine finds the Merc with a Mouth pulled from his quiet life by the Time Variance Authority and sent on a mission with a Wolverine variant to save the MCU. The superhero movie marks the first time since X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009 that Reynolds and Jackman’s title characters have shared the screen.

Besides Reynolds and Jackman, Deadpool & Wolverine stars Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Stefan Kapičić, Shioli Kutsuna, Lewis Tan, and Rob Delaney, who are all returning from the previous Deadpool movies. The cast also includes Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfadyen, Aaron Stanford, Jennifer Garner, Dafne Keen, Tyler Mane, and Wunmi Mosaku.

Deadpool & Wolverine opens in theaters on July 26, 2024, as part of Phase 5 of the MCU.