Rob Liefeld, who co-created Deadpool and Cable, at one point approached Russell Crowe about playing Cable in Deadpool 2. But the Academy Award winner’s response to the offer was not exactly positive.
Twenty-First Century Fox had several actors under consideration for the Deadpool sequel’s Cable, including Kyle Chandler, David Harbour, Pierce Brosnan, and Michael Shannon. In addition, Stephen Lang and Ron Perlman threw their own names into the mix. In the end, the studio opted for Josh Brolin.
Liefeld felt that the list of candidates should also include Crowe, and he took to Twitter to invite the 54-year-old actor to audition for the part Twitter. As Lifield told panel attendees at a recent Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con panel, reaction to the tweet wasn’t quite what he expected (via Collider):
One night before I went to bed, I didn’t know Russell Crowe was on Twitter, and I stupidly tweeted to Russell Crowe - not ever thinking he’d answer me – and I go, “Hey Russell, you should read for Cable!” That didn’t turn out very well, I got yelled at a lot, because I woke up (because he’s in Australia) to Russell Crowe saying, “Read for it?” And my manager said, “Yeah, Russell Crowe doesn’t read for parts. Rob, you kind of insulted him.” I’m like, “I’m sorry. They just haven’t picked Cable yet, so I’m just putting it out there.” And then my phone rings, so some Fox people may or may not have yelled at me for an hour.
Looking back at Crowe's response, it’s clear that he felt that the mention of an audition was highly insulting:
@russellcrowe you should read for #Cable in Deadpool and X-Force. Just sayin…
"” robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 24, 2017
I should read for it? https://t.co/kLONW0gBGI
"” Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) February 24, 2017
No harm in reading the script, is there? I’d say take a chance and read it, you might like it, or you might not. Love you lots
"” Kate Michelle (@MichelleKate41) February 24, 2017
That’s not what reading for it means.
"” Russell Crowe (@russellcrowe) February 24, 2017
Huge fan, sir. Poorly worded. Apologies.
"” robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) February 24, 2017
