Although Deadpool & Wolverine is stacked with star-studded cameos, one piece of fan casting never quite made it to the big screen.
Director Shawn Levy has finally addressed the speculation that star Ryan Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively‘s close pal Taylor Swift would make a cameo as Ali Blaire (aka Dazzler) in the MCU crossover film.
“It was so very loud,” he told Entertainment Weekly of the casting speculation. “I definitely had moments where I was worried I would disappoint people when they realized Taylor as Dazzler was not in the movie, but there’s no controlling the internet and rumors spread like wildfire.”
Levy clarified, “It was never a conversation. It was never even a seed of a discussion. Obviously, Ryan and Blake, and myself, to a far lesser extent, have our own relationships in real life with Taylor. But, yeah, those rumors were loud and slightly baffling, but nothing I said or did was going to make them quiet down until this movie came out.”
As Swift comes off a massive year with her Eras World Tour, many fans believed she would return to the big screen as Dazzler, the vocally gifted super-heroine who can convert sound vibrations into light and energy beams.
Taylor Swift shares support for Deadpool & Wolverine.
Instagram @taylorswift
Reynolds confirmed last month that Swift is “not in this film,” but he told E! News, “I always do say that if anyone ever were to take over the role of Deadpool, actually Taylor would be very good. Because that’s a superpower that I don’t know that she shows everyone too often: She’s one of the funniest people I’ve ever met.”
While the Grammy Award winner doesn’t appear in the movie, she gave it a rave review on opening weekend, while poking fun at Reynolds.
“Over the past few years I have watched one of my best friends on this planet pour every bit of his heart, soul, sweat, time, energy, jokes, pain, joy, rebellion, darkness, and magic into this film,” she wrote. “He’s created the best work of his life, and this film feels like an actual joy portal, a wild escape from reality, and an abs sandwich. I don’t know how he did it.
“But that’s just Hugh for you!” added Swift with a photo of her, Lively, Reynolds, Levy and Hugh Jackman. “These other randoms crashed the photo and we were too polite to ask them to leave. Shout out to Wade Wilson, aka my godkids’ sperm donor!”