Celine Dion’s original song “Ashes” plays a significant role in Deadpool 2 playing over the James Bond-style opening credits, the track wasn’t originally written for the film.
While director David Leitch was trying out different songs to set to the opening credits, including plans to feature Skyfall‘s Adele to further the James Bond parody, the production team were recommended the Dion track by her record label Columbia Records.
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“We were auditioning songs and Columbia had a song that they felt could be a hit and was a ballad,” explained Leitch on the commentary track for the film. “I just laid it against the imagery and I’m like, ‘Holy shit’, it’s thematic to the idea of a lot of the characters in the movie. Losing everything and, hopefully, something beautiful can come out of it.”
The single went on to top Billboard’s US Dance Club Songs, Dion’s third single to top the chart in her entire career. A music video directed by Leitch and featuring Ryan Reynolds reprising his role as Deadpool was released ahead of the film’s premiere this past May. Reynolds, who also appears on the film’s commentary track with Leitch, felt Dion’s inclusion was perfect as the singer, like himself, is Canadian.
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“[She sings] the ever-loving shit out of that song,” added Reynolds.
Directed by David Leitch, Deadpool 2 stars Ryan Reynolds, Brianna Hildebrand, Leslie Uggams, Stefan Kapičić, and Karan Soni, with newcomers Zazie Beetz, Josh Brolin, and Julian Dennison. The film is now out on digital HD and will be available on Blu-ray on August 21.
(via Syfy)