DOMINO OF ZAZIE BEETZ: LUCK IN “DEADPOOL 2”
Deadpool comic creator Rob Liefeld is a fan of his character’s movies. “Ryan made “Deadpool” a little dirtier. He brings that extra-edgy material that works. He’s perfect for it. They’ve taken great liberties with the R-rating and I think it found its own niche. I’m thrilled that there’s this different muscle that Fox gets to work out,” enthuses Liefeld.
“I am an artist who wanted to write because I got control of the content of my visuals,” continues Liefeld. “That’s where the battle is won – the visuals win the day in terms of cool. I still turn my head at a cool “Deadpool” drawing, whether I drew it or not or if I see him in real life. That red and black looks magnificent. While “Deadpool” spans comic books to actions figures, The best version is what they’ve done with these films because they’ve put the utmost care and love into them and they haven’t betrayed the comic. They take some liberties, but they’re sticking true to the sources, and they should, because there is a fan base out there. X-Force is the second best-selling comic of all time. I thought that would not stand. Twenty six years later, now I know it’s never going to fall.”
As well as giving Deadpool and Cable life, Rob Liefeld also created Domino, introducing her in New Mutants #98, the same issue in which Deadpool debuted. Liefeld says, “Deadpool took everybody down in the course of 10 pages, and Domino took Deadpool down in one page! She’s capable. She can go toe-to-toe with anybody, especially Deadpool and Cable. She is a badass combatant with a unique power. It’s an unknown power of probabilities, kind of a luck power. She’s wonderfully unpredictable in that way.”
Liefeld was delighted with the casting of Zazie Beetz. “I cheered the day they cast her. I thought, ‘she’s perfect,’ because who else is going to stand toe-to-toe with Ryan and take none of his crap? And Zazie as Domino has achieved that. It’s just a great dynamic.”
“I feel very honored to be bringing the role to life,” says Beetz, “And be the first live action Domino, to be entrusted with that. I’m black, and she doesn’t look black. That did concern me, but I really appreciated it when Rob Liefeld told me that he’d never assigned a race to her. And if you read the comics, she has different aliases that are very international names.”
“Domino is lucky,” says Beetz. “I think that because she’s sort of jaded, she takes it for granted. She’s sarcastic and sardonic. She goes head to head with Deadpool, and doesn’t take his shit. Domino does her own thing. She’s not really a sidekick, she holds her own. She’s a mercenary and does her job and then heads out. She knows what she’s got, and it’s interesting because that can open up the discussion of where does that luck end and begin? Because her past is quite tragic. I find it an interesting juxtaposition. She’s lucky, but to what extent? If everything just works out for you, then what’s the point in even being motivated to do anything? She struggles with that a lot.”
From 20th Century Fox, “Deadpool 2” is now showing in Philippine cinemas nationwide. Also available in IMAX screens.