There are lots of surprises in Deadpool 2, all which benefit from not knowing about them in advance, so if you haven’t seen the film yet, I’d advise against reading this article until you have. Last chance to turn back…
Still here? Good. As you’ll no doubt know, one of the best moments in the sequel was Brad Pitt’s tiny cameo as X-Force member The Vanisher. In the film, he has the power of invisibility and remains unseen for almost the entirety of the movie except for his death by electrocution. At which point, it’s revealed that he was Brad Pitt all along.
But what does it take to convince one of Hollywood’s biggest A-listers to appear in a cameo role? Apparently not much, according to an interview with writer Rhett Reese, who told Screen Rant the following:
Vanisher was a late add. It was the very last thing we shot on the Deadpool movie was [when] Brad Pitt came to set. He agreed to play Vanisher in return for scale, which is a very, very low number, a low, low salary and a cup of coffee from Starbucks delivered to him by Ryan Reynolds. So Ryan had to hand over that coffee to Brad in order for him to do the part.
He came in, he was willing to do it because his kids love Deadpool and he’s a great guy. And uh, Ryan just asked him and he said yes, and next thing you know, boom, he’s standing there, and we had, we had a ton of fun. It was about a half an hour shoot and he was on his way and it really adds a fun moment. You can hear people gasp.
What I’m taking away from this is that Brad Pitt’s a pretty cool dude, and putting a clause in his contract that he’ll only do the role if Ryan Reynolds personally delivers him a cup of coffee feels very Deadpool.
Of course, this wasn’t the only A-lister they convinced to be involved with the film. Superstar warbler Celine Dion agreed to sing a song and shoot a music video for the movie, too, which feels like a hilarious callback to the times when every self-respecting superhero pic came with a melodramatic theme song and soundtrack album. Apparently, all it took to convince her was Reynolds writing a long, polite letter asking her if she’d like to participate. And, true to the maxim that you get more flies with honey, she agreed and they spent a day shooting on her Las Vegas residency stage.
Then, there’s Deadpool‘s appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and… look, just give Ryan Reynolds some kind of movie marketing genius award, okay? He’s more than earned it by now.