At the very beginning of 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) addresses a concern that many had going in, especially those who enjoyed the 2017 masterpiece Logan. Characteristically breaking the fourth wall, he says, “I know what you’re wondering: how are we gonna do this without dishonoring Logan’s memory? And I’ll tell you how. We’re not.”
From there, Deadpool digs up Logan’s body at the same gravesite he was buried in at the end of Logan, revealing Wolverine’s remains in an advanced state of decay, making his skeleton, still covered in near-indestructible adamantium metal, highly visible.
A moment later, agents from the Time Variance Authority arrive to arrest Deadpool and he proceeds to tear apart Logan’s skeleton and use the bones to kill and maim the agents. Logan’s rib becomes a throwing star, his skull and spine are swung around like a mace, and his leg bones are used as nunchucks. The scene is set, hilariously, to the 2000 NSYNC hit “Bye Bye Bye” and, amidst the gore, Deadpool joyously dances, using the same choreographed moves from the song’s music video.
It was the perfect way to reintroduce Deadpool, and one of the key figures who made it possible was Nick Pauley, a professional dancer who stood in for Reynolds in the Deadpool suit during the shots which saw the character dancing (something he did so perfectly that he was officially credited as “Dancepool” in the cast list). Here, in his own words, Pauley tells the story of becoming Dancepool, from a warehouse in Burbank to a Hollywood set to the premiere to an unexpected performance at the Oscars, all of which began with a mysterious call from his agent.
The Call
On February 15, 2024, I was just chilling at my parents’ house, visiting up in the Bay Area and not doing anything special. Then I got a text from my agent saying, “I need you to learn the ‘Bye Bye Bye’ dance right now and send me a video. I don’t know what it’s for exactly, but it’s for Disney, so it’s going to be something big. So get this in.”
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First, I learned it just casually, just watching it on my phone and half-doing the moves. Then for the next couple hours, I let it sit in my body. Then I went full-out, doing it really clean and big while recording it on my phone. The hardest move was probably the stomp. When you do that jump, I think it’s supposed to be done casual, just like a hop, but I did like a stomp-hop and, I don’t know why, but it’s hard.
Then I sent it back to him and it was either that night or the next day where they were like, “They’re interested, they want to do a fitting with you tomorrow.”
The Fitting
I drove back down to LA, to a warehouse in Burbank, and walked into this warehouse where I saw the Deadpool suit. Then I knew it was for Deadpool, but I didn’t know it was for the movie yet, because it could be for a commercial or something. I actually didn’t even think it would be in the actual movie until the day of set.
The first time I wore the suit, it was really amazing. I mean, you can just feel the quality in it. It’s stretchy but firm. I’m a huge Marvel fan and I could feel the honor when putting it on. After the fitting, I heard back a few hours later that day that I got the part. It was an enormously quick process
The Filming
One week after, on Feb. 22, I was on set. I got changed into the suit. Then I got escorted to a little van and driven over to what is basically a parking lot where they had set up a giant blue screen. Suddenly, Ryan Reynolds is walking right up to me and he introduces himself while he’s simultaneously taking off the prosthetics on his face. I don’t normally get starstruck, but oh my gosh, I totally got starstruck around Ryan Reynolds. I didn’t say anything embarrassing, but I remember being really nervous. We had a little moment, then we walked over to the blue screen, and it was him, [director] Shawn Levy, producers Mary McLaglen and Wendy Jacobson, and the rest of the crew who worked on the film. It was this family that I was just getting adopted into for the day
It was kind of all-eyes-on-me, which was really interesting because as a dancer, as an actor, I hadn’t felt that way on set before. One of the great things about non-dance heavy productions where people aren’t so critical of me. The perfectionism that is usually expected, wasn’t. I mean, I was still doing it perfect, but the little mess-ups here and there that I’d be hard on myself for, no one else noticed. Also, it was a cool experience where I would just suggest something — like the butt grab — and they would just be like, “Yes, do that. Do that. We love it. Just riff.” As dancers, you don’t normally get that kind of freedom.
We did it probably 15 times in total and it was pretty simple with the shot. I would do it about two times before I had to get a real breather with the mask off because air intake is limited in a mask like that, especially when your whole body is covered — you get zonked pretty quickly. I actually have a funny little two-second clip where I just stop dancing in the middle of the scene and call “Cut” because I’m just done. Then in my head I was like, “Oh my gosh, am I going to get in trouble for calling ‘cut’ myself?” But it was fine and it just had to happen because I felt like I was going to pass out. Plus, I can’t just take the mask off myself. Someone has to take off the swords, take off the shoulder strap, unzip the back, open the back, then take out the mask. It’s a 30-second process where I’m just hanging on until I can get some real air.
The Premiere
The premiere was interesting. I was going through a really rough breakup and things with my family were off. I was supposed to go to the premiere with my mom and she ended up not coming with me, so I went by myself. Life was just hard around the premiere. And I felt really low. Then I got there and I was sat down right next to Madonna and in the same row as Ryan and his wife Blake.
Up until that point, I didn’t know the stuff I did was for the intro. So, the lights go down, the movie starts and the intro starts and I’m like, “Oh my God! This is happening right now!” Then it happened and the whole theater just erupts into laughter. They love it and I’m just in the theater watching the rest of the movie in shock. What did I just watch? What just happened? Can we replay that? Can we get a rewind? I’m appreciating the movie, but in the back of my head, I’m like, “Wait, what just happened?” I was in shock for the whole movie.
The Oscars
Even months after the movie was released, I was still thinking about things and celebrating this incredibly huge moment. So it made me want to keep going with it. I was thinking, “Where would be a good place to revive this and celebrate it? What better place than the Oscars?” So I texted Shawn this idea.
My pitch was crazy. I was like, “Hey, I have an idea. What if, at the Oscars, we create a Dancepool ensemble? I’m talking 30 Deadpools on stage and, what if, at the very end, we create this illusion for Ryan to hop onto the stage discreetly take off his mask and it seems like Ryan was the one who was dancing the whole time?” Shawn goes, “Wow, that is a big idea. I’m going to run that by everybody.”
That was like three months before the Oscars, but in January they reached out to me and they were like, “Okay, so we have a little 15-second window at the Oscars.” It was in the intro of Conan O’Brien’s little song that he did. It was, obviously, smaller than what I’d pitched but it was still amazing. It was the Oscars!
I met up with a costume designer and did a fitting and practiced at the warehouse. Then I went to my first rehearsal with the rest of the dancer cast and crew with Mandy Moore, who was the choreographer of The Eras Tour. She laid out where I would be entering from and told me where I’d be dancing and gave me the rest of the choreography. The night of the Oscars, my performance was just 15 seconds and, of course, I really overthunk it, but it was perfect and thank gosh Conan O’Brien was just super down for it and made it work.
The whole thing was such a Cinderella story. Even besides the Oscars, the response to the opening of Deadpool & Wolverine was really insane. The widespread reach the movie had was indescribable. And the most beautiful thing about it to me was just seeing how many people felt inspired to dance. When I grew up, dancing as a boy was not this celebrated thing. I’m just so grateful that it is now and that I got to be a person to say, “Hey, get up and dance. This is cool. Even superheroes are doing it.”