It’s strange to think that Brad Pitt’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo in Deadpool 2 could end up being the only moment of screen time that the movie megastar will get in a cinematic release this year, with the actor seemingly saving himself for 2019’s Ad Astra and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
You’d think there’d be plenty of producers ready to throw checks in the star’s direction, and yet all that Pitt has brought to theaters in these past seven months has been this split-second appearance in the latest Wade Wilson actioner – a role which the A-lister apparently agreed to do for a very low salary and a cup of coffee.
It’s a story that Deadpool 2 co-writer Rhett Reese brought up to Ryan Reynolds when the cast and crew were questioned by Entertainment Tonight, prompting the actor to reflect on Pitt’s cushy deal.
“I was told all he wants is a cup of coffee and I said, ‘Like a franchise or just one individual cup of coffee?’ And I was told one individual cup of coffee, which was really his way of saying, ‘I’m doing it for nothing.’ And it was a total solid and the nicest thing anyone could do.”
Pitt was cast as the appropriately named Vanisher, a member of Wade’s ill-fated X-Force team who’s neither seen nor heard until moments before his untimely death by electrocution. And as Reynolds explains, that’s what he loved about the cameo.
“I just loved it, because what’s more irresponsible than taking one of the biggest movie stars in the world and giving him a role that is utterly wordless and invisible with an exception of three frames of film? Yeah, that’s kind of amazing.”
While Reynolds undoubtedly has a lot of famous friends, director David Leitch argued that it was the cheeky spirit of the Merc with a Mouth’s movies that really helped to reel in Pitt.
“I knew both of those guys and I worked with them before, but they would have never done a cameo in a movie I directed if it wasn’t Deadpool. There’s such a… beloved feeling for the things you guys created in the first one that it was an easy ask.”
If you’re keen to get a closer look at Brad Pitt’s electrifying cameo – or want to check for yourself if that really was Matt Damon in an earlier scene – it’s just a short wait until Deadpool 2: The Super Duper Cut hits Digital on August 7th and Blu-ray and DVD on August 21st. Also, if you haven’t done so already, be sure to enter our contest for a chance to win a copy.