It takes someone really freaking scary to intimidate both Deadpool and Wolverine. It’s got to be someone powerful, someone cunning, someone who has a connection to their past. In the new movie, that someone is Cassandra Nova, the twin sister of Professor Charles Xavier, a character who has spent more than a little time with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in the past.
And portraying Cassandra in Deadpool & Wolverine is Emma Corrin. Corrin rose to fame with their award-winning performance as Princess Diana on The Crown, as well as a leading role in the Hulu show A Murder at the End of the World. Later this year, you’ll see them in Robert Eggers’ highly anticipated Nosferatu. But first, Corrin sat down with io9 to talk all things Deadpool & Wolverine.
Germain Lussier, io9: When you were considering and then eventually preparing for the film, was there anything particular that stood out to you, something you connected with that made you want to play the character?
Emma Corrin: I think it was the way that Shawn [Levy] and Ryan [Reynolds] pitched it to me. They wanted her to be a really unpredictable villain. They didn’t want her to be a traditional Marvel villain. They wanted her to be mischievous, cutting, quite charismatic, and coy, and that really got my attention.
io9: We know she’s a telepath and that’s not always easy to convey on screen. In the trailers we see she kind of uses her fingers and stuff, so I’m curious, how did that develop and how physical does it all get?
Corrin: Yeah, it got quite physical in terms of using my fingers, I had prosthetic fingers, which were really fun but not very practical. But yeah, it was more, because of her telepathic power, there’s much more of an internal exploration of the character, really. But still, I managed to have some pretty epic fight scenes, which I’m excited for people to see.
io9: So the movement itself, was that a collaboration with you and Shawn [Levy], or a fight coordinator—how did that style develop?
Corrin: Yeah, exactly. It was me, Shawn, and I had an amazing movement coach called Polly Bennett, and, yeah, together we figured out what Cassandra’s moves were going to be.
io9: So we’re meeting Cassandra almost 30 movies into the MCU, and from the trailers we see she clearly has connections with some other characters: X-Men, mutants. How important to you was her past in this universe, and did you want to kind of learn about it, and her whereabouts and all that kind of stuff, or did that not play into your performance?
Corrin: No, I did. I mean, she’s got an incredible origin story, being the evil twin sister of Professor X, and also being this Omega-level mutant, and I think it was really important to sort of dive into that and explore it, and then try and bring as much of that into this as I could, so that there are those things that tether the character to the comics.
io9: With that history, comes a lot of other MCU villains. So what do you think makes Cassandra stand out from the Killmongers, the Lokis, the Thanoses, and how much did you think about kind of joining that pantheon?
Corrin: Um, I tried not to think about it, really. I mean, I tried to just dive into this script and this film, and not try and like compare it to others, because I don’t know how useful that would have been. But, um, Cassandra’s very chilled, and she doesn’t come across evil until she is, and I think that’s what is different.
io9: Okay so that kind of maybe plays into this. Deadpool and Wolverine both very powerful characters, Hugh and Ryan both very big personalities, but because we have to be scared of Cassandra versus those characters, what did it take to kind of match that from a performance standpoint, so that you are overpowering them, and terrifying us, the audience?
Corrin: I think to switch up the tone. I think Deadpool and Wolverine have tones that we’re very familiar with, that are so much larger than life, and I mean in Deadpool’s case completely audacious and extraordinary. And, yeah, Cassandra brings something very different to the table, which is much more unsettling and unpredictable. Yeah, so it was a really interesting thing to balance those two things.
io9: Awesome. Now I’m guessing you probably can’t say anything about this, but the trailer teased that Cassandra’s lair is in Giant Man’s head. What can you tease about that?
Corrin: I can’t tease anything. I’m afraid.
io9: All right. I tried. Now, Cassandra was created by Grant Morrison, who is non-binary, as are you. What does it mean as a non-binary person to portray a character created by a non-binary writer?
Corrin: I mean, it’s a huge honor. Yeah, it’s a huge honor to be joining the MCU as a whole. I mean, it’s full of extraordinary characters, most of whom are misfits and a bit different. The stories all explore belonging, right? And how we just all want to belong. So, yeah, it’s very cool.
io9: And this will be my last thing, as excited as I am to see Deadpool & Wolverine this week, I think I might be more excited to see Nosferatu, as a big Robert Eggers fan. Tell me a little bit about your role in that, and what it was like filming it.
Corrin: I can’t tease much about that either, very boringly, but it was an incredible experience working with Rob. He’s obviously, like, a very singular, unique auteur, and the way he works was absolutely mind-blowing. Again, a very huge scale of production, and the level of detail and nuance that he can bring out of performers and what his eye catches. It’s fascinating.
Deadpool & Wolverine is out July 26.
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