Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy recently teased a big moment in the Marvel Studios threequel inspired by a key scene from Return of the Jedi.
Levy wrote an essay in Esquire about the power of watching a major Hollywood blockbuster in a crowded theater and the effect it has on the audience at large. As a huge fan of Star Wars, the director remembers the shock and awe of the moment during the final lightsaber battle in 1983’s Jedi when Darth Vader threatened a hidden Luke Skywalker to lure Princess Leia to the dark side. The moment had such an impact on Levy that he urged his Deadpool 3 crew to pay homage to it for a major scene in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe entry.
“For one key scene in the movie, I said to my stunt and action team, ‘Guys, this is the Jedi moment,'” Levy said. “I pulled up that scene of Vader and Luke on my phone and restudied how it was photographed, how it was blocked, the framing, the tempo.”
Levy’s homage to the climatic battle sequence and Vader’s speech from Jedi is more than just respecting the past. Much like the Star Wars entry did 40 years ago, Levy wants Deadpool 3 to bring out a similar reaction from audiences when that big moment happens on screen. Levy recalls the dark Jedi moment as “dead quiet. Pin-drop silence, forty seconds of stillness from the audience, then the spectacle and emotion.”
As the third installment of the Merc with the Mouth’s trilogy and the first to be set in the MCU, Deadpool 3 stars Ryan Reynolds opposite Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine from Fox’s X-Men universe. Though plot details are under wraps, rumors suggest that the Merc with the Mouth’s attempts to revive Wolverine in the multiverse get him in trouble with the Time Variance Authority (TVA) from Disney+’s Loki. Production is currently on pause due to the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike.
Shawn Levy’s Star Wars movie plans
While Levy awaits getting back to work on Deadpool 3, the director is also working on a top-secret Star Wars project at Lucasfilm that remains in the early stages of development.
“I’ve been talking with Kathy Kennedy for awhile now, and she’s been aware of my passion for this franchise for a long time,” Levy said. “The stars finally aligned, and she came to me and was like, let’s do something here. And that’s as much as I can say. But this is definitely development and not yet close to prep. So there’s a lot of work to be done.”
Deadpool 3 does not have a release date.
