Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman were willing to go through a lot of trouble in order to get the rights to Madonna’s 1989 hit Like A Prayer. The stars of the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine movie mentioned how they met Madonna, explained the scenes where they’d use the song, and other details to get the license for the song.
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reveal how they secured license to use Madonna’s song in Deadpool & Wolverine
Reynolds and Jackman’s recent interview on SiriusXM with Andy Cohen featured the two superheroes together with director Shawn Levy sharing their experience with meeting Madonna and personally asking for the license of her song. They mentioned having to bring out their team to visit her and reveal how exactly the film sequence would look like while accompanied by the song.
Shawn Levy explained that this was because it is very rare for Madonna to grant a permit for that particular tune. Ryan Reynolds underlined the weightiness of their plea as they put in special effort to have it accepted.
The 47-year-old Deadpool actor said, “Let’s preface it with the fact that they don’t license — that Madonna doesn’t just license the song, particularly that song. It was a big deal to ask for it and certainly a bigger deal to use it. We went over and met with her and and sort of showed her how it was being used, and where, and why.”
Levy and Reynolds said it felt like they were being received by royalty. Even jokingly, Reynolds admitted asking members of her team what he should call her when he met her for that meeting.
He said, “Like am I allowed to just say, ‘Madonna?'” The use of first names or formal addresses was not known by any of them because there was tension and respect toward the Queen of Pop.
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s highly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine arrives on July 26
Apart from allowing Deadpool & Wolverine to include Like A Prayer, Madonna went ahead and advised on additional scenes within the production storyline itself. Within two days, these recommendations were so meaningful that directors returned back, added them, which led to an improvement made in its presentation after a single retake.
This upcoming film has Hugh Jackman, 55, reprising his role as Wolverine, whom he last played in Logan (2017). It tells a story about Deadpool and Wolverine who are joining forces again but this time around for a different assignment- being their first-ever major collaboration involving these two iconic characters.
Reynolds recalled waiting at X-Men Origins: Wolverine set way back in 2008 when he met Jackman for the first time. As per People, the thing that stood out in Ryan’s memory was when Hugh Jackman addressed him by his name and made him feel comfortable.
