Emma Corrin on Cassandra Nova, Villains

ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently spoke with Emma Corrin (The Crown, My Policeman, A Murder at the End of the World) about her new role as the villainous Cassandra Nova in Deadpool & Wolverine. They discussed movie villains, channeling James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart, and working with director Shawn Levy. It is officially out in theaters tomorrow, July 26.

“Six years after the events of Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson is retired as the mercenary Deadpool and lives a quiet life until the Time Variance Authority (TVA)—a bureaucratic organization that exists outside of time and space and monitors the timeline—pulls him into a new mission,” reads the official synopsis. “With his home universe facing an existential threat, Wilson reluctantly joins an even more reluctant Wolverine on a mission that will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).”

Jonathan Sim: One of my favorite moments in the trailer is a scene where you are fighting Wolverine because you take him down with so much power and nonchalance. When you were playing this character, how much of this character did you want to be funny, and how much did you want to be scary?

Emma Corrin: I’ve learned a lot about tone from this film and what it takes to, how unexpected it can be. Because I went in thinking that because it’s Deadpool, then all the characters are sort of very large, much larger than life, and very funny. And actually, what we realized, Shawn Levy, the director, and I as we went along, was that Cassandra really needed to be more of a straight man to Ryan’s funny antihero. But she’s also very kooky and very quirky. So, and as you say, she performs her power, her immense power, with a lot of nonchalance, which is interesting.

Yeah. I can really see that. Now you’re playing the sister of Professor X, and I know that the characters are completely different, but did you ever look at the portrayals of James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart, and did you ever look to them for any sort of inspiration?

I did. I looked into them a little bit. I was really interested in how those actors dealt with playing a character whose power comes from a very internal place, not performed. It’s not physical, but it’s incredibly mental. Especially in the case of Patrick Stewart’s performance, you know? Yeah. I find it really interesting.

What was the superpower that you were most excited to portray on screen?

I think telepathy. Yeah.

It’s something that I feel like you can have a lot of fun with.

It’s very unpredictable, and, you know, Deadpool and Wolverine come in guns blazing, literally. And they dunno what to make of this person who doesn’t; you don’t know when she’s gonna use her power. You don’t know in what form it’s gonna take. So it was fun.

So when you’re on set playing this character, how closely are you guys sticking to the script? Is it any of it improvised? Is any of it Shawn Levy throwing out ideas?

We always do a version of the script. We always do what’s on the page ’cause it’s so brilliantly, beautifully written. It’s so clever. But then, yeah, they’ll always throw things out. They’ll offer things up and, you know, say, ‘How do you feel about trying this?’ Or, ‘Oh, I have an idea. Why don’t you throw this in?’ And it kind of snowballs. So there’s a lot of room for collaboration.

What do you think is the most fun part of playing a villain?

There are no rules.

There are none. There are no rules. So you can do anything you want.

It’s amazing. Exactly. The sky’s the limit.

Are there any movie villains in cinematic history that you look to and you’re like, “those are some great villains. I hope I can maybe stand among those one day.” Are there any of those?

Yeah, I mean, Ryan’s big reference for this film was for me in this film was Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds. And that’s one of the best villains.