Like most other superhero movies and big-budget films, Deadpool concludes after the credits with Ryan Reynolds confirming that the inevitable sequel will feature the introduction of Cable. Since that point, everyone has given their suggestions as to who should play the character, but almost a year later there is still no actor attached to the role. He will however absolutely be in Deadpool 2, as will Deadpool’s mutant friends Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Colossus. Even Dopinder is returning for the sequel, but it is Cable that has the attention of most comic readers.
No matter how passionate and big the fan base is for Cable, that number is minimal in comparison to the total number of people that will see the Deadpool sequel. This ultimately will mean there is a large number of moviegoers who are unfamiliar with Cable beforehand, which has put the film’s writers in a difficult spot thanks to the character’s complicated history. However, they say this will not stop them from delivering an authentic portrayal of him.
Collider had the chance to interview Deadpool 1 & 2 screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese about Cable and their vision for him. They understand that even to those that know the comics, Cable is a tricky character to fully understand. For the film, they are going to make sure he looks, acts, and feels like the character, but may leave some of his origin purposefully murky.
Comic book faithful may be against the idea that they will could not fully embrace or explain Cable’s backstory, but Wernick and Reese proved with Deadpool that they know these characters and how to write them. There are a number of ways they could go about simplifying Cable’s history to make it easier to grasp for general audiences, and it is important to remember this isn’t Cable’s movie. As long as things go according to the reported plan, whoever is cast as Cable should have plenty of time to flesh him out in the future. Cable could eventually be the lead of an X-Force movie, so that (potential) film could wind up answering any questions that Deadpool 2 doesn’t answer, regarding the Cable character.
Wernick: It’s intimidating because we have to find his voice, and we don’t have an actor yet so we don’t know who we’re writing for. Most screenwriting happens without cast in place, but sequels it’s a little bit different and it’s likely that part will get cast, and we’ll get to continue writing it and honing it for that actor, which I think is a good thing. There’s been so many diverse people that have been brought up as possibilities for Cable, and who have not been brought up but we’re considering. And that, much like with Ryan [Reynolds], that decision will greatly impact his cadences, his rhythms. And we’ll certainly make him like he is in the comics, and we’ll certainly be faithful, but I do think that voice will inform us quite a bit.
Reese: I think authenticity is so important. I think part of what made Deadpool such a success, I think we’re going to continue that authenticity.
Wenrick: So with Cable, he’s got such a convoluted past, and such a convoluted origin story that I think we’re going to try to leave that, not mysterious, but there are a lot of twists and turns, cloning and all this stuff where you go, “Oh my God. How do we get that across in a two hour movie?” I think we’re going to distill him down to his essence. It will be authentic and faithful, but it’s not going to include the 18,000 details if you were going to read a Wikipedia page about Cable you’d roll your eyes.
Similarly to how the writers are having a difficult time writing the character because there is no actor attached yet, it is just as difficult to figure out how Deadpool 2 will approach him. For instance, Stephen Lang would inherently bring a different voice to Cable than someone like Kyle Chandler would. Once an actor for the role has been found, it will not only make things easier for the film’s writers, but also easier for fans to begin to understand what type of Cable they will be getting. In either instance, Wernick and Reese should be able to make those both familiar and unfamiliar with Cable happy in the long run.
Source: Collider
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