Emma Corrin on Deadpool & Wolverine: ​“So funny you will wet yourself”

In the middle of a big job? Having to put on your best face for strangers, night after night, for weeks on end? Prepping for a meeting about an exciting new project that could change the course of your career and a whole cinematic universe? All three?

Emma Corrin has some advice for you: go easy on the tweakments.

​“I decided to get a chemical peel whilst I was onstage in the West End,” the actor says of their three-month, five-star performance in the adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando in London, in late 2022/​early 2023. ​“Don’t do it.” Sitting next to Corrin on a stage in a ballroom in the city’s Corinthia hotel, their Deadpool & Wolverine co-stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman alternate grins and grimaces.

​“I don’t know what it was,” continues the 28-year-old from Kent, ​“but my whole face shed. Like, burnt off. Very red! And I remember my team saying, ​‘you’ve got this meeting’ [that] I was so excited for. I said: ​‘I can’t do this. I look like I’ve had a terrible accident.’ Then I googled Cassandra and I was like: ​‘OhI’m fine. She looks fucked!’”

The meeting was with Shawn Levy, director and co-writer of the third Deadpool movie, a superhero mash-up for which the big-budget production’s brains – Levy, Reynolds, Marvel boss Kevin Feige – were keen to hire the English actor best known, certainly in Hollywood terms, for their Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Princess Diana in season four of The Crown.

But: superheroes and the whole MCU – we’re over them, right? The endless movies and cross-referencing TV series have suffered from diminishing returns since [insert name of the last one you remember]. Well: Deadpool & Wolverine is here to change all that. Scabrous, scatological and actually funny, it’s a superhero movie as blockbuster in-joke. This 34^th film in the series is a rampaging romp that mercilessly takes the mickey out of Disney, Fox, Marvel, superhero tropes, fanboys (and fangirls), with Reynolds gleefully breaking the fourth wall, every convention of the genre and, er, wind.

In this mind-twistingly meta threequel to the R‑rated 2016 film that introduced Reynolds as shit-talking vigilante Deadpool, he’s joined by Jackman’s Wolverine. The last time we saw him, he was very much deceased in 2017’s surprisingly soulful Logan. But Deadpool & Wolverine is a death-defying crossover ​“event” that manages to mine narrative gold from – oh yes – the corporate takeover of Fox by Marvel parent company Disney and the merging of the X‑Men and Avengers universes. Keeping up?

In that bonkers mix, the team wanted Corrin for the part of ultra-villain Cassandra, twin sister of Professor X (aka Charles Xavier, as played by Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy in the X‑Men movies). And while she doesn’t really look ​“fucked”, she’s giving – as Emma tells me when we meet a few hours after the all-star press conference – ​“really old, but could also be really young”.

So, Cassandra: shaven-headed supervillain who tried to strangle her twin brother in the womb with his own umbilical cord, failed, and was then stillborn after he psychically blasted her. But ​“the creature survived as chaotic cellular matter that clung to a sewer wall for decades, rebuilding its physical form, and perfecting its effort to mimic human traits” (thanks, Wikipedia) – and then returned with a vengeance… What was the appeal of that role?

Ha ha! What’s not to love? I mean, everyone loves growing themselves on a sewer wall… What an origin story. There was so much appeal. And it was all so different [from my previous projects]… Then, playing a villain, which is [also] very different to anything I’ve done before.

Yeah, what you just read out was one of the first things I stumbled upon on the internet. There was something that I really liked in Cassandra, having been treated that way by her brother before they were born. Then having to bring herself up and grow up without any real identity or home, having been renounced by any family that she would have… I found something really interesting there.

How surprised were you that a Disney movie has multiple references to pegging, cocaine and ​“Marvel Jesus”, and lines like: ​“Come again. This time in my ears.“

Oh my gosh – Ryan Reynolds, everyone… I mean, it’s Deadpool, isn’t it? You know what you’re signing up for. That’s why we love it. That’s why Ryan has basically created his own entire genre of film. Yeah, he’s incredible.

People who are fans of you, your other roles, your style, everything you represent, may not be the most natural constituency for a Marvel superhero mash-up movie. What would you say to encourage them to go see this film at the cinema?

Well, look: I’m basically that, aren’t I? I had no real prior knowledge or experience of Marvel films. I had watched the [two] Deadpool films before, and loved them. And I watched this film, and I normally really don’t like watching myself. But luckily, I’m not in it that much, so I could really sit back and enjoy it!

And I’ve got to say, it’s the best film I’ve seen in a long time. God, I left that cinema thinking: I can’t believe I get to be part of this. I cannot believe it.

What was the main thing you were surprised by?

I think this will be the hook for so many people who maybe think: ​“I don’t know if it’s for me.” It is so funny you will wet yourself. That’s a given. But it’s also so moving. And it’s a real joyous tale about unlikely friendship. Also it’s about people coming to terms with themselves, and those parts of themselves that they maybe feel ashamed of or can’t confront. That’s something I think we can all relate to.

And I would say that, even if you’re not a Marvel fan, or even if you’ve seen Deadpool films and you don’t know what to expect for this one – or if you’ve never seen a Deadpool film before – this stands alone. It’s one of a kind. It’s hugely joyous. And what we need right now in the world is joy, isn’t it?

One hundred per cent. Ryan said this morning: ​“I never feel freer than when I’m under that mask.” How free did you feel in Cassandra’s bald cap and freaky fingers?

Quite free! It’s so altering, you don’t feel like yourself at all. Then there are moments where you catch your reflection during the day and it’s so freaky. I mean, there is absolutely nothing less free than being in prosthetic fingers. You can’t even go to the toilet by yourself. So in that way, no. But in a performance way, I felt a great deal of freedom.

When I interviewed James McAvoy, he boiled down his approach to portraying Charles Xavier’s superpowers as: a lot of frowning, jabbing his forefinger on his temple and sticking his hands out in front of him. What was your approach to physically embodying Cassandra’s superpowers?

Frowning is a good one. I definitely used that. Frowning and gestures. I’m sure he found this as well – it’s hard when you have to portray a very rich internal world, and have to do that interestingly. It comes across as you’re solving really hard maths problems and just really concentrating. But there’s fun to be had.

How gruelling or otherwise was the audition process?

It wasn’t actually an audition process – it was an offer. I’m still getting used to living in that world, because it’s crazy. But, yeah, it was a huge honour that they thought about me. It was a process of Shawn trying to pitch not only this film but also the entire MCU to me. Because I didn’t have a great knowledge of it beforehand, although I do increasingly.

Also, they can’t really tell you much until you’ve signed on the dotted line. I didn’t see a script until I signed. So it’s really a process of trust. I had to trust Shawn and Ryan and their pitch to me, and what they promised the character would be. And in turn, I suppose: if I’m not auditioning for it, they really have to know, or sense, that I’m the right person for it. So it’s quite a mature game of trust.

So, for research, did you have to go and watch all [checks Wikipedia again] 145 Marvel movies and TV series?

I never pretended I was going to do that! I was like, ​“make me a dream wish list of films [to watch]”, which Shawn did. And I’m still making my way through [that]. But no, I didn’t put that kind of pressure on myself. I’ll go out and do the relevant research. But at the end of the day, it’s all about the script in front of you and what that is asking of you.

How easy was it to act opposite Ryan when he’s doing his, as he put it this morning, ​“straight clown work” in his mask.

It’s fascinating. I was really interested, actually, to hear him refer to his clowning, because I’d never thought of that before. It made me wonder if he’s ever been to clown school. It’s always something I think must be fascinating to do. Not that he needs it – he’s so, so good at what he does. It’s really a masterclass. I was just taking so much in, working opposite him.

And the funny thing is, you don’t realise he’s not got a face! You can have full conversations with him. The last thing you’re thinking about is: ​“I can’t see your expression.” What that man does with his voice, his intonation and his tone, honestly it’s like an instrument. And he’s way past Grade A.

How would you characterise Cassandra’s style?

Ooh, chic. And clean. I reckon she doesn’t like mess.

Your stylist Harry Lambert has been posting your looks from the Deadpool & Wolverine global press tour: Saint Laurent in Berlin, Schiaparelli for the London premiere, Miu Miu for this morning’s photocall and this interview …

[Today] it’s all Miu Miu. I just wanted the comfiest thing I could find!

What makes you and Harry’s partnership-slash-relationship work so well?

We’re great friends. We’ve known each other for a long time now. A certain level of trust, and knowing each other really well, comes into it. And then also honesty – especially when you’re traversing friendship and work, you need to know you’re working with someone who you can be straight up with. But also fun. We have a shared sense of fun and a real love of taking risks.

Back to the press conference. We heard this morning that, during the film’s UK-based shoot, there were rumours of King Charles being cast in a small role – and how that spurred Ryan and Shawn to have a conversation: ​“Could we actually…?“

Could they? They could! Come on, if anyone can, they can! Can you imagine?

I can! But in an already very meta movie, how would it have been for you if Princess Diana’s widower had been in this movie?

Ha ha! I don’t even know! I feel like my head would explode. I mean, God, that’s a crossover that I can’t even wrap my head around.

Would that finally cause the MCU to implode?

I’ve a feeling that would do it. That would be the final thing!

Deadpool & Wolverine is in cinemas from Thursday 25^th July