Some said it couldn’t be done, but Deadpool is the reigning king of the movies.
The Ryan Reynolds blockbuster – about Marvel’s crass and mouthy anti-hero – has smashed a helluva lot of records since it catapulted into theatres on Feb. 12: best February opening day; best February single day; best R-rated debut ever.
Deadpool is also Exhibit A that Vancouver’s recently embattled film industry is back and in fighting form. Reynolds is a proud Vancouver boy (his Twitter handle is @VancityReynolds), and filming for this industry game-changer took place in and around the Lower Mainland in 2015.
The film poured more than $40 million into the local economy, and gave Vancouver crews, locations (oh hi, Georgia Viaduct), and on-screen talent the opportunity to shine in a variety of roles.
Kyle Cassie is one such Vancouver actor who stepped up to the Deadpool plate and hit a homerun.
Cassie has worked the local screen scene for nearly two decades. He’s logged guest and recurring gigs in television series like jPod, Stargate SG-1, Fringe, True Justice, and Arctic Air, and appeared in films like Death Do Us Part and Cruel & Unusual.
In Deadpool, Cassie is Gavin Merchant, a character that he describes as dim-witted and douchey.
And in one of the film’s more memorable scene transitions, the action cuts from a close-up shot of Reynolds’ butt to a close-up of Cassie’s bedazzled behind.
Cassie’s five-page scene (which also features Vancouver actor Style Stenberg, who “plays the pizza guy, I’m the guy who owns the apartment, and Deadpool’s the guy who shows up and tosses us around”) was shot at Riverview Hospital, the former (and soon to be again) mental health facility that has a long list of film credits to its name, including The X-Files, Happy Gilmore, Sanctuary, and Romeo Must Die.
For Cassie, the gig was a fun one, mainly because it afforded him the opportunity to work with a legend at the top of his own game.
“[Reynolds] is such a ninja with his skills,” says Cassie. “I feel like he owns this tone more than anyone else in the business, so it was really cool to get to play with him and explore, and I was curious to see how much room we’d get to improvise, if at all. It was cool that we actually did get to do some of that, and some of it did make it into the film.”
The energy on set was positive, professional, and playful. Cassie never got a full script – only his own scene – and his first opportunity to see how his scene fit into the larger work was last week, when he attended a screening in LA.
So, how does the final cut match Cassie’s memories of filming?
“The film is just a rollercoaster ride of awesome, just through every scene,” raves Cassie. “The one thing I felt, first and foremost, is ‘Holy crap, those five pages literally flew by in a matter of minutes,’ and the tone of the film and the pace of the film is so tight that, of course, nothing was milked.”
Cassie’s own origin story befits a fledgling superhero: shortly after high school, he was in a car accident that literally ended his life before they were able to bring him back. He remained in a coma for three weeks.
“When I woke up from that, it was such a harrowing experience, and I was so clear about, ‘wow, life is just insanely precious, and the only thing I want to do is to give this film industry thing a shot,’” recalls Cassie. “So I just stepped forward with great confidence, and have never really looked back since.”
In addition to Deadpool, Cassie can currently be seen turning in a near-naked cameo in the Vancouver indie comedy What An Idiot. (“There’s nothing like when [director and co-star Peter Benson] is like, ‘Okay, buddy, we’re going to grease you down in coconut oil now and you just hold a guitar in front of your privates wearing no other clothes.’”) The film arrived on iTunes and VOD platforms last week after a fruitful film festival run.
Next up for Cassie is the horror comedy Puppet Killer, which also stars Vancouver mainstays Aleks Paunovic, Lisa Durupt, Lee Majdoub, and Richard Harmon.
Jumping between genres suits Cassie just fine.
“I love the extremes of different characters,” says Cassie, who also works as a photographer and has edited four feature films, including the twisted horror flick Blackburn and 2013’s VIFF darling Leap 4 Your Life!
“I’m not super excited about playing the straight man or the protagonist who isn’t battling a ton of conflict,” says Cassie. “Those interest me less than characters that are multi-layered, that are so flawed and ultimately trying to achieve whatever they’re trying to achieve in the story, and having to go through a lot of conflict to get there. That’s what I really gravitate towards.”
Deadpool is currently playing at Scotiabank Theatre Vancouver and Fifth Avenue Cinemas.
