Morena Baccarin on Sex Montages, Ryan Reynolds

Publish date: 2024-08-10

Earlier this year, when director Tim Miller’s Deadpool movie was filming in Vancouver, I got to visit the set with a few other reporters. While I was already excited to finally see Rob Liefeld’s most popular character come to life on movie screens, after speaking with most of the cast and the filmmakers, I left convinced we’re in for a special treat with Deadpool. Unlike a lot of comic book movies movies that play it safe and deliver PG-13 dialogue, the Deadpool movie is going to move the boundaries of what a superhero movie can show and do. It’s going to be loaded with sex, violence, great dialogue, and mayhem. It’s exactly what I want a Deadpool movie to be. I cannot wait for February 12, 2016 when the film hits theaters.

While on set I was able to participate in a group interview with Morena Baccarin – who plays Vanessa Carlisle. She talked about her character, how she gets involved with Ryan Reynolds, how familiar she was with Deadpool before signing on, filming eight years’ worth of sex scenes in one day, working with Tim Miller, what sets Deadpool apart from other comic book movies, and so much more.

Check out what she had to say below:

Question: Talk a little bit about who you play in the film.

Baccarin: I play Vanessa Carlisle. She is Wade’s quote-unquote girlfriend-they meet in a bar, where she is a prostitute and she tries to pick him up and they fall in love. Just like that. (Laughs).

Were you aware of the character in the comics before you started?

Baccarin: No. (Laughs) This may shock you, but, I don’t really read comics (Laughs). Even though I’ve pretty much cornered the market at this point. I had heard of Deadpool, but I really actually didn’t know he was the Merc With The Mouth until I started doing a little bit more research and really liked the character and then, through reading the script and found out more about who she was and all that. So, now I know.

Is this one of those films where you’re here for the whole shoot?

Baccarin: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, yeah. I’ve been here in and out… since March? Yeah, end of March.

How big is your role in the film and how you play into the entire film?

Baccarin: I’m in the entire movie, sort of sprinkled throughout, their relationship has a really big arc. So, there’s their meeting point, which is, I guess the backstory on the characters and how they first get together. And then they have-you see this sort of passage of time through this really funny sex montage where you see us, like, having sex throughout the holidays (laughs). It was one of my favorite, believe it or not, things to shoot, even though it sucks being naked all the time. And then you see Wade start to get sick and he gets cancer, and then their relationship becomes all about trying to save him and he, of course, wants to, sort of, send her away so she doesn’t experience that with him and then, um, he finds a way to push her away, disappears, and then we cut to eight years later. The movie is told back and forth through all that, so there’s time cuts, um, it jumps around a lot. But, then you see her at the very end again, um, because he’s been basically just trying to find a way to be comfortable with his crazy face and body now and get her back.

Do you get involved with the action?

Baccarin: I do get involved in the action. And it’s great. This character’s scrappy, she’s not worried about her hair and her nails or messing around. She gets down and dirty and she’s not a victim, she’s not a damsel in distress. It actually even says that in some of the fighting, she’s like ‘I can take care of myself and if you think I’m just gonna sit here and scream so you can come and rescue me, you’re wrong.’ We’re shooting all that stuff next week, so we’ll see how it goes, but, I’m assuming they’re gonna want me to be pretty, sort of active and not passive in it.

Does she have her powers in this movie?

Baccarin: I don’t have any powers other than the power of sex (Laughs). And humor.

Are you hoping to get your powers in a later movie?

Baccarin: Yeah, sure, that’d be great.

Did you know Ryan before this?

Baccarin: We had met through friends, actually, so yeah, I knew him a little bit, but obviously a little more now.

So nothing can prep you for all the eight years of sex scenes, though.

Baccarin: Nothing can prep you for eight years of sex scenes in one day (laughs).

Was there a lot of laughing…?

Baccarin: There was, there’s a lot of laughing. And that stuff is always uncomfortable, it’s not fun for anybody involved. But, we made the best of it and by the end of the day you’re like ‘okay, where do you want me, how do you-?’ you’re like spreading your legs and you’re like whatever, it’s just, you get so used to each other.

What’s it been like working with Tim Miller as a first time director?

Baccarin: He’s been great. He’s really-he’s got a good eye and especially for the acting stuff, he’s not very familiar with in directing actors and he’s really great with his gut instinct-is really great and the way he gives notes in a scene I find really inspiring.

Did you give any input into the look of your character?

Baccarin: No, no, a lot of input. It was really fun. It felt really collaborative, actually. Everybody came up with really awesome ideas and we just kind of like honed it in. With the costumes we first went with the really trashy, like, typical prostitute look and then we were like, y’know what, let’s layer it, like make it more interesting, we had a chance to sort of create a look and create a character. So that, added with the hair designer came up with this great idea of giving her blonde tips no matter what length her hair was, which kind of became her thing. And then make-up, too, I wanted her to always have, like, a look. Even when she’s looking like shit or she’s looking tired, she’s looking great, like she’s always got a specific look that’s her.

What convinced you to do this film? What was it that made you say yes to this?

Baccarin: The script was really great. I didn’t get to read it until I was close to getting the job, so it was a little nerve wracking, but once I did I was so excited as it’s so rare in a movie like this that the female character is actually really good and not just servicing the story or servicing the hero and she’s got her own thing going on and she’s really funny and it’s a really great part. And, of course Ryan being attached was awesome because I think he’s just perfect for this role. He’s made to play this guy.

Do you get the chance to improv?

Baccarin: All the time. All the time. I mean, we show up and rarely what ends up being the scene is what was on the page to begin with. And, the writers are there, we’re all sort of throwing out ideas and we try one the way it’s written, one in a different way, Ryan will come up with something, I’ll come up with something, it’s really collaborate. It’s fun.

What is it like for you signing onto something that may have a multi-picture deal?

Baccarin: It’s exciting. I mean, it’s a little terrifying, ‘cause they own you for the rest of your life (Laughs). But, it’s exciting, especially when it’s a good project. That’s the best case scenario is you would hope to make a few movies.

What do you find most challenging about the role?

Baccarin: Keeping up with Ryan. Y’know, really giving him shit and being somebody-being the character that he would fall in love with-that character would fall in love with. It’s not in my comfort zone necessarily, just to show up to work and tap into her and be the kind of girl that Deadpool would really be into.

Deadpool is a bit unhinged, would you say your character is the same?

Baccarin: For sure. For sure. There’s nothing normal about these people (Laughs).

Can you tease an example?

Baccarin: Yeah, the way they meet. She’s at a bar- she comes up to him and she’s gonna try to get him to spend all his money, instead of buying drinks for his friends, on her, on sleeping with her and paying her for it. And, they go into this sorta back and forth about whose life is worse. And, its things like ‘I was abused. Yeah, me too’ he’s like, ‘My Uncle-‘I don’t remember the exact lines-and she goes ‘Uncles-they took turns.” And they just like taunt each other on the shittiest things that have happened to them. And that’s how they fall in love is with a sense of humor and how fucked up their life is.

What has been your reaction to Deadpool fandom?

Baccarin: On this thing, this whole thing? Well, as you know I’m not unfamiliar with the fandom world (Laughs) But, it’s exciting, I think it’s actually-I must be worth a lot at a comic convention these days (Laughs), from Gotham to V to Firefly to this. But, I think it brings it to a whole new level. I think the fans of Deadpool go a little bit deeper and a little bit further into that world, y’know, I think it’s a very specific kind of person that gets the humor of it. And, the movie is very much-very true to who that character is, so I think it will be very well received.

Having done Firefly, Gotham, etc. did you hesitate going after this one?

Baccarin: No, no, it was great. It’s a great, great movie. I don’t know, I feel like that’s all that’s out there right now, too. It’s really inundated the market, you can’t throw a rock without a comic book character falling out of a tree. But, it’s good, it’s good material. The female characters in these worlds tend to be really great.

What do you think will set Deadpool apart from other comic book movies out there?

Baccarin: Nobody’s safe, humor wise. It doesn’t shy away from offending people. It’s really fun. It’s unexpected, it’s not a movie that-when I read it I was going ‘holy shit, that’s really funny’ and it’s not safe in any way, it really goes to all those dark places and it has a true emotional depth to it. And, I think Ryan is killing it.

What’s the thing that people always want to talk to you about in your fandom roles?

Baccarin: Firefly. And no, it’s not coming back guys (Laughs).

On that note are you done with Homeland?

Baccarin: I am for now, yeah.

Does that mean you’ll be involved in Con Man?

Baccarin: Oh, I would like to. I think they did a good job raising money for that. It’s so funny.

They raised a little bit of cash.

Baccarin: Yeah, just a little bit. I’m really proud of them. Alan (Tudyk) came up to me and told me the idea a couple of years ago and I was like ‘this is genius, you need to make this’ and I’m really glad that he did. It’s hard to do something, so…yeah, I would love to be involved.

What’s up for you next?

Baccarin: I will be doing Gotham, season 2.

That’s got to be weird doing both Marvel and DC projects.

Baccarin: It’s a little weirder for you guys than it is for me (Laughs). It’s just another character. A great job, but yes. For more from our Deadpool set visit:

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