Imagine this: you’re given a surprise directing assignment for one of the upcoming Marvel movies. It’s a highly anticipated threequel that resurrects a popular legacy character, and teams them up with someone all MCU fans have been hoping they’d meet. That practically feels like the start of the story for Shawn Levy being hired to direct Deadpool 3 and, for some, that would be a gig that might inspire some intimidation and/or impostor syndrome when wondering how or why it came to be. When it comes to Levy though, he has a pretty sweet explanation for why he landed the gig: karma.
During a wide-ranging conversation amid the Disney+ press day for Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again, franchise producer Shawn Levy shared quite a few stories. One of Levy’s tales cropped up while he reflected on the fact that he’s worked with both Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds, who also happen to be one of the most popular faux frenemy teams in the business.
Those previous works were apparently crucial to Deadpool 3 landing on the filmmaker’s desk, at least that’s how the man himself sees it. From his own personal perspective, the director/producer shared with CinemaBlend his feelings on why he got this immensely coveted job:
The opportunity to pair Wolverine and Deadpool in a full movie, the duo that’s been the dreams of all of us as fans for over a decade, I feel very lucky. … It does definitely feel like a career’s worth of karma suddenly decided to shine its light on me. I’m really, really grateful.
As a result of working with Hugh Jackman on the fan favorite Real Steel, Shawn Levy has forged a firm partnership with that star, and that's led to some amazing cameos. Jackman would appear as himself on stage in a fictitious production of Camelot in 2014's Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb and most recently had a vocal cameo as a shady gamer in Levy's 2019’s Free Guy.
That happens to be the other film that snapped the pieces into place for Shawn Levy, as the Ryan Reynolds-starring video game flick seemed to work like magic. Not too long after Free Guy was completed, the pair had already set to work on this year’s Netflix hit, The Adam Project, which only reinforced how much the pair liked to work together.
Mix all of those factors together, and the Stranger Things producer's position as Deadpool 3 director pretty much looks like a foregone conclusion. Clearly, Jackman and Reynolds dig their shared director’s energy, especially when it teams the two of them on an adventure that Marvel loyalists have been clamoring for. If anything, this is a recipe for yet another A+ blooper reel, allowing the filmmaker and his comedy assassins to throw caution, and F-bombs, to the wind.
Hard at work on developing the next chapter in Wade Wilson's story, Shawn Levy is already hyping Wolverine’s return, reinforcing the notion that he’s the “lucky son of a bitch” in the driver’s seat. After talking the potential experience out like I did above, it’s hard not to agree with that very notion. It’s enthusiasm like that which shows how much Levy enjoys his job; and that gracious karma continues to do its job. Looking back at Levy’s remarks on landing his Star Wars project, that spirit is alive and well.
Karma has been good to Shawn Levy, and there’s no reason to believe that will stop any time soon. Considering the level of care and personal attention he put into shepherding Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again, that’s a good and proper thing. You can see the results for yourself, as the fourth entry into that magical story is already streaming for those with a Disney+ subscription.
Meanwhile, all we know about Deadpool 3 is that it’s in development, with an intended release date of November 8, 2024. So we all have some extra time to fit into our Wade Wilson costumes and practice our Wolverine claw pops.
