Shane Reid’s Expert Editing Elevates “Deadpool & Wolverine” to Marvel Masterpiece Status

PH: Balancing humor, action, and emotional depth in a film like 'Deadpool & Wolverine' can be challenging. How did you approach maintaining this balance throughout the editing process?

Shane Reid: It’s a great question, and very true, the hurdle with a film like this is how do you move from comedy, sometimes quite broad comedy, to drama and action and not give the audience whiplash.  The truth is it’s just about continuing to explore and massage the transitions from scene to scene.  Each time a scene is done you have a certain runway before you need to start ramping to the next emotional hit.  They’re almost like beacons that you work toward or backwards from and you just need to feel out when you’re riding the emotion or completely thrown off.

PH: The dynamic between Deadpool and Wolverine is central to this film. How did you enhance their contrasting personalities through your editing choices?

Shane Reid: As far as performance selection and edit goes it was important to try and keep Wolverine as the straight man responding only to the information he’s receiving.  The film works best when insane lines from Deadpool elicit no response, lines like “Fox killed him, Disney brought him back, they’re gonna make him do this til he’s 90".  So you always have to keep Wolverine in a movie that he doesn’t know he’s in, while Deadpool and the audience are in on the bit.  So in selecting Hugh’s performances we kept him as grounded in truth as we could, which gave more runway to be wild with Deadpool and allow him to comment on the world as a part of the audience.

PH: With the film exploring the multiverse, how did you weave together different narrative threads while keeping the story coherent and engaging?

Shane Reid: It’s all about the character’s desires, Wade is always trying to get home to rescue his loved ones and to find his purpose, Wolverine is more or less kidnapped and told a “promise” that he’s trusting Deadpool to deliver upon.  The multiverse is only a mechanism to move them through time and space, we just kept our eye on their intentions as characters and only used the multiverse to propel them forward.

PH: What were some of the biggest challenges you faced while editing 'Deadpool & Wolverine,' and how did you overcome them?

Shane Reid: Well, we encountered a SAG strike in the middle of shooting which was sad, scary and uncharted territory for us all.  But we had successfully shot most of the first act of the film so we decided to keep the edit going for several weeks to lock some fight sequences so that we could get a jump start on vfx.  So the Deadpool and Wolverine fight in the void had a huge leg up.  But we also took that time to experiment with a more beefed up cut of the search for Wolverine montage.  Originally we had 3 vignettes and we felt like we had a great opportunity to add more variants and weave together a more fun and fast paced cut.  So over the break we got together with our storyboard artist and they pitched us 3 more iconic comic Wolverines which were Brown and Tan, Wolvie on the cross with the skulls and Old Man Logan.  Because Brown and Tan Wolverine had a classic issue with the Hulk we were able to get him in.  So we built the cut with the footage we’d shot and storyboards and executed a proof of concept and got the additional shoot requirements approved and Shawn folded them into production when we returned.

PH: Can you describe your collaboration with the director and actors, particularly Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, to capture and enhance their performances through editing?

Shane Reid: Ryan brought me onto the film and I think it’s because he knew we had very similar instincts, and he was right.  Musically we were very lock step but we found the same things funny and we both have a similar understanding of the power of shots and how we could dig for emotion beyond what was right in front of us.  I also think we operate from a similar place of anarchy, we don’t really pay attention to rules and so we have no problem breaking the status quo and going for things that push the envelope.  Deadpool obviously has a physicality to the performance that you’re always aware of when constructing a scene but really he’s a character defined by words and Ryan is a wordsmith, so often in the edit it’s about being open to letting his mind take the character on a ride. Sometimes you scrap whole sequences that didn’t work but often if you follow the rainbow it leads to gold.

Shawn is an incredibly diplomatic leader within the circle of creative minds that he trusts and values.  Shawn directs and watches cuts like an audience member, I’ve watched him cry in an edit, I’ve witnessed him jump out of his seat multiple times cheering and high fiving and I’ve seen him very perplexed and frustrated and scratching at something that is beneath the surface.  We probably shaped a lot of performances based on Shawn’s emotional responses to Ryan and Hugh.  He has incredible taste but you know you have him when you hit that emotional well that is like an ocean inside of him.

Hugh is just power personified. He is by far one of the warmest people I’ve ever met in my life.  Anyone on that set could approach him and he’d make them feel like the most important person in the world for that interaction.  On screen and in the footage he’s just an animal and packs all the weight of a superhero and a broken man and he just gives you everything he’s got to shape a very dynamic performance.  He really was born to play Wolverine and he’s always right in the pocket so there’s not a lot of fat around his performance.

PH: Do you have a favorite scene or sequence that you edited in the film? What made it memorable for you?

Shane Reid: It’s probably the whole final showdown in the power room with Cassandra.  Dean and I would split scenes up during production randomly, it was usually about who had the bandwidth the take on the next scene while the other was continuing on with theirs.  Sometimes you’d get a scene that would be shot over 4 or so days and assembling that into a viewable sequence would take a little time.  So by chance I started with Wade and Wolverine in the tunnel and just kept building out the power room.  Shawn and Ryan had pitched that they really wanted this orchestra/choir reprise of Madonna but I had convinced myself that Journey Separate Ways was a really fun option and gave it some power.  I told them about the track and they both went “oooooohhh shit!  Okay, we want to see that too!” So I built the scene out with it and it was no doubt a lot of fun and ironic.  Then we screened our first assembly with it and I was so angry with myself.  The film was leading up to this big moment with the two of them and I really just felt like I had delivered a music video with Deadpool and Wolverine in it.  So I really started to look at the scene and Dean and I told Shawn we felt like we need a bigger idea here.  So Dean and I dug in and I had this idea that we could see Wade’s life start to disappear while Cassandra was destroying their timeline, that this was a device to help understand what was at stake.  I would try morphing images, or taking Vanessa out of a shot with Wade and Dean found some great plates where we could isolate Wade in his apartment or remove Wade’s friends.  It was cool and really trippy but then we all felt like if it told a more heartfelt story for Deadpool then we also needed to service Wolverine’s story.  For Wolverine we didn’t have either of those same options and we felt stuck. 

So I did this massive exploration, blew the whole sequence up and started to just build a narrative using the dialogue we’d heard throughout the film and supported it with visuals.  It was long and I’d tried something more earnest and when I showed Shawn he was a bit defeated like we all didn’t quite know how to really nail the ending and we’d gotten lost in it.  Then I said okay, forget the music and forget the new construct, let’s look at these little pieces.  I would have “you were always the wrong guy…until you weren’t” Until you weren’t wasn’t in the film so I started to unlock this idea that we could show the audiences pieces of story that they hadn’t seen, like that scene by the fire continued, as though their real life would have continued and we as an audience only got this small glimpse.  I also grabbed a shot that had been cut from the film where wolverine finds wade’s photo and makes a choice, we got to use these pieces that were new but familiar and use that technique to build out this sort of memory crawl for them before they accept their own fates.  It turned out to be a very powerful sequence that balances stakes, action, legacy, comedy, drama and spectacle and I’m really proud of it.

PH: How do you think 'Deadpool & Wolverine' will impact the Marvel Cinematic Universe, both in terms of storytelling and audience reception?

Shane Reid: I think it’s a really unique and singular film, I’ve had friends relay to me that they don’t think there’s another film that exists like it.  It’s unique to Ryan’s interpretation of that character mixed with a group of filmmakers who share a passion for connecting with an audience.  Marvel will always produce a lot of content that draws the largest crowds in the world…but nothing is Deadpool and you’ll never get him again with Wolverine, so this one stands on it's own in it's own time.

PH: Were there any new editing techniques or technologies that you employed for this film? How did they contribute to achieving the film's creative vision?

Shane Reid: I can’t say that there were any new technologies, perhaps in VFX there were, but as far as technique I’d say that me being a successful and highly visual commercial editor lent it’s lens to some unique strengths in this film.  In commercials we’re often, with break neck speed, asked to find music, sound design everything and most often build a story that isn’t inherently there.  I didn’t realize until this film how much those skills could translate to a feature like this.  For example, there’s a sequence that exists early on the film when we leave the bone fight/opening credits and go to Happy’s office that I built from scratch that didn’t exist in the script.  The idea was we needed to understand a bit about time travel and show how Wade had moved around so I took the ending of Deadpool 2 fast forwarding through all of it then reversing the death of Vanessa and using a bit of wade turning Cable’s watch to suggest that he had saved Vanessa and was in control of time now. 

That just caught the audience up in a clever way and maybe gave some context to why Vanessa was alive again.  Another was the bridge built from breaking Paradox’s nose and leaving to search for Logan which brought us back to the opening where Deadpool has Wolverine’s claws on.  That was always just a hard cut with some vo but I remember saying to Shawn “I’m not quite sure I’m connecting the dots between the opening and this scene” the lighting was a little different because it had been shot on another day and it was enough to say I think the audience needs something more.  So I took the whole bone fight, did a mix down, added a %500 speed effect and just wove in really quick visuals that were cerebral reminders that the audience could attach themselves to so they could catch up to where we were in the story.

Another large one was Cassandra going into Wade’s head in the void.  In the script that was supposed to be Cassandra’s fingers in his head then cutting to him and Vanessa breaking up at the table, Vanessa saying “you’ll never matter” and as wade looks up she repeats it as the camera pulls away and there would be a match cut to Cassandra.  But given my history with commercial work I worked really late one night on an idea that we had this opportunity if Cassandra is going into his mind to reintroduce Wade’s beating heart, which is Vanessa she should be collecting information from Deadpool and figuring out how to use it against him.  So it started with flashes of the past films, of wade’s cancer and X-ray scans and then you find yourself in the breakup.  Using this technique though as she breaks his heart we can contrast it with images of their history to remind us that time sometimes hurts in our lives and that Wade had worked hard to bring Vanessa back to life but he can’t control her heart.  By the end of the sequence we all felt like it was this great way to remind the audience of the history of Wade, the legacy of the films, the relationship between the two, but I think, most importantly, the film begins to take on a deeper language and let’s you know that we will continue to take you to some unexpected places emotionally and tonally.

PH: Given the anticipation and high expectations from fans, how did you approach editing to ensure the film would resonate with both longtime fans and new audiences?

Shane Reid: You just have to work on telling a good story and keeping it fresh.  I think we understood who our main audience was, it’s why references to Sling Blade and Huey Lewis and Avril Lavigne tracks worked.  If you have faith in it and make it with the best intention the audience will find it.  I remembered sharing a few texts back and forth with Ryan where we discussed that the best thing we could put out to the world should also be the most satisfying thing to ourselves, and if it’s successful to both audiences then it is the most pleasurable as far as filmmaking is concerned. Deadpool is so cool and audiences love him, Wolverine is a tried and true fan favorite, basically, don’t fuck it up and you’re good!

PH: Reflecting on your career, how has your approach to editing evolved, especially with projects like 'Deadpool & Wolverine' that blend genres and iconic characters?

Shane Reid: It’s only highlighted to me that you HAVE to do what feels cool and fresh and not forced.  You have to keep listening to the films you’re editing and finding what they want to say.  There’s truthfully no more important element to cutting a film.   A film, whether it’s abstract, European, silent, comedy, drama, action etc has a soul and it is speaking to the filmmakers creating it about what the thing that separates it from other films around it is and I think it’s all of our jobs, but a lot as editors, to just spend time exploring concepts within the main bones to find out what that thing is and that’s when the film begins to get really exciting.