UPDATE: Add Sarah Greene (Vikings, Noble) and Jessica De Gouw (Arrow and Deadline Gallipoli) to this short list. I’ve added their pictures at the bottom of the original story.
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE: 2oth Century Fox has made test deals with a small group of actresses for the female lead opposite Ryan Reynolds on Deadpool, based on the character he originated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The film is being directed by Tim Miller, who has done strong visual effects work through his VFX house Blur Films. Miller has been developing the film for several years, from a script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, with Lauren Shuler Donner and Simon Kinberg producing. Production begins in March.
Here are four of the actresses: Morena Baccarin, who played the long-suffering wife of POW-turned-terrorist Brody in Showtime’s Homeland and who also starred in V; Taylor Schilling, from Orange Is The New Black and who was just see at Sundance in The Overnight; Crystal Reed from Teen Wolf and Crush; and Rebecca Rittenhouse, who made a splash in the Fox series The Red Band Society. There might be another actress in the mix, and I’ll add here when someone reaches out. That’s a good crop of young actresses.
When Reynolds made that first appearance as Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson, he was a smart-mouthed mercenary with terminal cancer who undergoes military experiments in an attempt to replicate Wolverine’s mutant healing factor.
He comes away with the ability to heal quickly — but for the price of being indestructible, he is rendered severely scarred. His acerbic attitude remains, though, earning him the nickname “The Merc with a Mouth.” Curiously, they quieted him, but that isn’t taking advantage of Reynolds’ quick wit. There are opportunities for a wise-cracking indestructible weapon who could take out a brigade of terrorists merely by blowing himself up in their midst.
Fox has set Deadpool for a February 2016 release.
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