The Deleted Underwater Scene We Never Got To See In Deadpool 2 - Exclusive
Underwater cinematographer Ian Seabrook will tell you his job is no easy task. He's been working in the industry for over 20 years with no formal training — because it still doesn't exist yet at most film schools. "It's not an easy venture to undertake," Seabrook said during an exclusive interview with Looper. "First and foremost, you have to be a diver. I think a lot of people go, 'That's so cool, I could do that.' And the thought process is that it's just a question of grabbing a camera and jumping into the water. But the skill set required to do the job is out of the reach of a lot of people. They don't even consider what goes into it — not only is it composition, lighting, and gripping, it's working with the talent and keeping you and them alive."
Despite everything that goes into filming underwater scenes, there are still times when all that hard work winds up on the cutting room floor. One example is "Deadpool 2," for which Seabrook filmed a complex scene with Ryan Reynolds and Morena Baccarin that didn't make it into the final film. It's a an exclusion for which Baccarin has publicly expressed disappointment, and one that Seabrook is also frustrated by — especially since the scene didn't even make it onto the film's Blu-ray release as an extra.
Seabrook — who has worked on such films as "Jungle Cruise," "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" — told us the deleted underwater scene we never got to see in "Deadpool 2" was a dream sequence in which Wade Wilson (aka Deadpool, played by Reynolds) and his fiancée Vanessa (Baccarin) are interacting in their apartment that's completely submerged in water.
Ryan Reynolds' appearance may have been the reason this Deadpool 2 scene was scrapped
Ian Seabrook said filming the scene came naturally for Reynolds, who Seabrook said is "probably the actor with the best breath hold — and I've worked with Tom Cruise." But for Baccarin, it was a nightmare come true.
"Morena had massive water phobia," Seabrook explained. "So, what she was able to accomplish in that film when we shot her and Ryan together under water ... she was in an apartment, and the whole apartment set, where he meets with her, was completely submerged. And she was sitting down in a weighted chair, not easy to get out of it. She could get out, but it's not super easy. She did a lot of training, but her ability to overcome her fears and still perform I thought was pretty extraordinary. And the fact that it didn't make it into the film, I know that she was pretty vocal about her disappointment."
Still, there were reasons to be concerned on Reynolds' end too, particularly when it came to his appearance. "Ryan had to do the whole sequence in a prosthetic, and sometimes there'll be water that goes inside the skullcap," Seabrook said. "We had that happen on 'Freddy vs. Jason,' where Robert Englund, who plays Freddy Krueger, had a prosthetic on and water started going into it. So, he turned into an egghead with a bald cap moving around, which looked quite ridiculous."
Despite that, Reynolds was so good underwater that Seabrook didn't have to use any of his usual soothing tactics on the actor.
Ryan Reynolds didn't need any help with the underwater shooting
"Normally when I'm working with cast that are holding their breath, I'll take my regulator out of my mouth in solidarity, if you will," Ian Seabrook said. "Oftentimes actors' prep before they come down is taking a few good exhales and then going down. In 'Deadpool 2,' there was a safety diver who was trying to tell Ryan how to do his breath hold. And Ryan did this big stunt, and then he swam out of the set. And when he was getting ready to get out, someone said, 'Maybe you should try this.' And he just said, 'I know what I'm doing.' And I was like, 'Yeah, yeah, he does.'"
Why the underwater scene was deleted from the final cut is anyone's guess. But Seabrook has a few ideas. "I think Ryan didn't like the way he looked. I think there was the writing. Maybe they didn't like the acting. There's a whole bunch of reasons. You don't really know why they deleted it."
Seabrook's latest film, "Jungle Cruise," is out now in theaters and on Disney+ with Premier Access.