I'll admit it: I was wrong. Last summer, Josh Brolin shared an image of himself as Cable in Deadpool 2 in which he had a teddy bear connected to his belt. That one prop sent me on a wild tangent about the X-Men storyline "Messiah Complex" from the comics and assuming that Hope Summers, who many felt was an all-powerful messiah of a mutant, would be the main crux of the film. By the time the final trailer hit, the world was aware that Hope definitely wasn't the child at the heart of the film; it was Firefist, who was being portrayed by 15-year-old New Zealand actor Julian Dennison, who we recently got to speak with before Deadpool 2 dethroned Avengers: Infinity War at the top of the box office.
Dennison's a relative newcomer to American cinema, but some movie lovers may remember him from his portrayal as Ricky Baker in 2016's Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which was directed by Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Watiti, who is close friends with Ryan Reynolds. In fact, it was in Wilderpeople that the Deadpool star first saw Dennison. That initial spark of interest led to Dennison landing his central role in Deadpool 2.
Luckily for Dennison, he didn't have to flex his "really bad American accent" playing Firefist, whose comic book counterpart is a former Navy man born in Tusla, Oklahoma. Many films based on the comic books have taken liberties with the cinematic portrayals of certain characters (with varying levels of success), but it sounds like there was an interesting balancing act for the screenwriters in staying true to Firefist's history while daring to be different in the on-screen depiction. "[Firefist]'s very different," Dennison explains. "Physically, he’s very different than most of them. So even though I physically didn’t look like the character, I still wanted to bring the essence of [him] and what he was like from the comics on the big screen."
Deadpool 2 actually did a great job of diversifying the cast; while the character of Domino might not specifically have a race in the comics, seeing her portrayed by Atlanta star Zazie Beetz was beautiful, and the importance of being able to showcase a superpowered being that doesn't look like everyone else isn't lost on Julian. Landing the role was important for him and all the kids who might say, "'Man I would love to be in those movies and love to be a superhero,'" but then realize that they don't normally see themselves on-screen.
"For me, personally," Dennison says, "it was special to do that so other kids can see someone on screen finally with these cool powers." He does say that he didn't "think it was a political thing or anything, they just wanted the characters to be who they are." Well, sort of. Dennison isn't as foul-mouthed as his character in the film. He admits that he hadn't even seen the first Deadpool movie when it was released (which makes sense, considering he was 13 at the time). "I just saw it a few weeks ago actually," he admits, "It was super good."
Dennison's parents, who he says have both seen Deadpool 2, are okay with the amount of four-letter words he utters during the movie, but he is worried about some of his other family members seeing the film. "I'm really nervous for my aunties and uncles to see it because I’m not like that," he says. "I'm quite far from that, so I'm really nervous for them to see it."
Aunties aren't the only people who had young Julian shook; Deadpool 2 found him in the thick of it with Reynolds, Beetz, and Brolin, who most recently had entire audiences weeping with his intense portrayal of Thanos. "It was super-scary," Dennison remembers. "I was so intimidated, and even after filming for [weeks], I was so nervous just looking at Ryan and just like work with him because you know, he’s Ryan Reynolds.
"I think I was so intimidated," Dennison continues, " because it took [Ryan] 11 years to make the first one. I didn’t want to ruin his vision."
Based on the reviews from many critics and fans alike, Dennison's performance helped amplify Reynolds' vision, which has turned into box office gold, with Deadpool 2 continuing to rake in the dough (at the time of this writing, the film has already pulled in almost $330 million worldwide). Dennison's no stranger to making bank at the box office, though; Hunt for the Wilderpeople became the highest grossing film in New Zealand, ever.
"Well, if you wanna make a lot of money, you should hire me," Dennison quips after we bring up how lucrative these two films have been. "Maybe this face is a money maker." All jokes aside, the young actor shows off a humble side, saying he's "real fortunate to be a part of it. I hope I can open a lot of doors."
Many hope one of those doors opens up to another Firefist feature in the X-Men Cinematic Universe, which Dennison is also hopeful for. "I definitely think [Firefist] will be coming back, I hope they don't just cut off my character. I'd love to play him again, in like maybe the X-Force movie." Dennison envisions that, because we're just being introduced to him as he's learning to use his powers, we'd get to see him after he'd developed a bit, as both a mutant and a person.
That's not all Dennison's got going on; while he couldn't mention it in our conversation, he has a part that should be announced relatively soon that his fans will be exited to hear about. One thing that Dennison often gets excited about is sneakers. "I never really had the money to be a sneakerhead," he confesses, before sharing the awe of being in New York during the Deadpool 2 press run and seeing the line outside of the Supreme store. "It's such an awesome culture," he gushes.
You could say the same thing about the fandom surrounding superhero movies as well. And with the way that his successes on-screen is taking him, maybe Dennison can cop a few pairs of those Air Jordan 7s he's always wanted, or fund his own Firefist film series. Either way the kid's on fire, and his future is extremely bright.
