We know that 20th Century Fox’sDeadpoolhas been confirmed as part of the studio’sX-Menfranchise, but we still haven’t gotten any indication on whether or not the Merc With the Mouth will be included in future X-Men movies. The only connection to that franchise is through the mutantColossus, who we reported last year will be portrayed byAndre Tricoteux. With just a few months left until the June 11, 2025 release date,Entertainment Weeklyreports that a last-minute casting change has taken place, with Serbian actorStefan Kapicicstepping in to play Colossus. We also have a new TV spot where Colossus speaks for the first time, along with two new photos.
Daniel Cudmoreportrayed Colossus, amutantwho has the ability to transform his body into an organic steel, in 2003’sX2: X-Men United, 2006’sX-Men: The Last Standand last year’sX-Men: Days of Future Past. But the actor confirmed in February that he won’t be playing this character. It was later confirmed thatAndre Tricoteuxhad landed the role. Now Stefan Kapicic has come aboard as a last-minute replacement, and will voice and perform through motion capture. In fact, the actor just completed his work in mid-December. Here’s what he had to say about directorTim Miller’s vision for Colossus, and why they went withmotion capture.
“Tim Miller’s idea of Colossus was to be bigger and stronger than everyone else, so for the motion capture they needed an extremely tall man. I’m 6-foot-4, but he wanted Colossus to be over 7 feet, so they used a stunt double to recreate his height, and he did very good job there. Tim also wanted Colossus to sound as close as possible to the comic book character’s background, so he had me to come in, since my voice was what he envisioned for Colossus, who has an authentic Russian accent. My character’s voice gives him the past history as Piotr Rasputin once you hear him speak. This made him the most authentic to the original idea of the comic book character.”
While we don’t know for sure, it’s possible we’ll get a glimpse of this new Colossus in the secondDeadpool trailerthat is set to arrive on Christmas Day. Just yesterday, a newIMAX posterwas released, which features an artistic rendition of the Merc With the Mouth literally sitting on Colossus' shoulders. While we wait to see if this new Colossus will show up in the trailer, take a look at whatStefan Kapicichad to say about voicing this iconic character.
“We had been trying all sorts of depths, both vocal and emotional, while playing with variations of Russian accents to give a range to the role until we finally got what Tim wanted. Giving the voice and expressions to a character is giving it a soul. It is a specific type of acting and it must be precise as it has to bring a character to life. Colossus' voice is not much different than mine as Tim loved my natural color and range of voice, so we kept it and worked more on the Russian accent. The best note I received was to be authentic.”
Ryan Reynoldsstars as the Merc With the Mouth alongsideT.J. Miller,Morena Baccarin,Gina Carano,Ed Skrein,Brianna Hildebrand, Olesia Shewchuk, Style Dayne, Rachel Sheen and Dan Zachary.Tim Millermakes his directorial debut withDeadpool, working from a script byRhett ReeseandPaul Wernick. Take a look at the TV spot and the two new photos of the mutant below, and stay tuned for more onDeadpool.
