I had Like A Prayer stuck in my head for the 3rd Deadpool film since 2017. Before Wolverine entered the chat, It was largely gonna be the same motion-control sequence I’d been dreaming about, except my dance partner was originally COLOSSUS. He would have died in the preceding scene, launching Deadpool into a state of pure rage and revenge… all set to @madonna’s inspired and singular song, Like A Prayer.
Obviously, Hugh joining changed the destiny for everyone. (And Colossus, along with his virginity, stayed intact)
The whole movie lives and dies on partnerships. My partnership with @slevydirect is one that I’ll never take for granted. I can’t live without him. My partnership with @thehughjackman and the trust and history between all three of us is the glue.
But so much storytelling springs out of composer, @rob_simonsen. And one of his biggest challenges was the choral reprisal of Like A Prayer. We’d always planned a reprisal, but thought we’d be using stems from the original recording. Then, with a massive assist from Madonna, it became so much more.
Rob is an actual genius. That isn’t even a compliment. It’s just a fact. Part of the job is to make it all look easy — but the engine behind Rob’s genius is a willingness to sit in a problem for long periods of time. He sat in the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he’s STILL working on the film. He lit the path ahead and this sequence became our favourite piece of the whole film.
And NONE of this works without the Heavenly Voices Choir of South LA and London Contemporary Orchestra. They are giants of talent.
*film nerds: In Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean set almost all the movement in frame from left to right to emphasize the journey. I’m not suggesting there’s any common denominator between LoA and D&W. Just that years ago, @TCM did a piece on Lean. I digested and swallowed this little “left to right” chestnut without bothering to chew. Now I can’t look at a frame moving right to left without baselessly disliking it. Obviously David Lean was a brilliant, peerless man. But if he were alive today, my glove to his damned insolent cheek!