Madonna famously likes to do things her own way (in her own time) so it’s not enough to just simply ask her for rights to use one of her most iconic songs in a superhero movie. It might work for N*SYNC, but not the Queen of Pop.
Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy revealed how they were able to secure Madonna’s hit “Like A Prayer” for the highly-anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine. The song was first heard in the film’s trailer.
“It did involve a personal meeting with Madonna,” Director Shawn Levy revealed to SiriusXM. Reynolds then stepped into preface that this isn’t something that happens every day. “Also, let’s preface it with the fact that — Madonna doesn’t just license the song, and particularly that song has not been licensed,” he explained. “So it was a big deal to ask for it and certainly a bigger deal to use it… We went over and met with her and showed her how it was being used and where and why,” Reynolds said before saying it was “one of the great thrills of my life.”
Not only did Madonna approve the song, she also had some tips on exactly how the track should be used. Reynolds said, “She gave a great note. My God, she watched it and, I’m not kidding, she was like, ‘You need to do this, this, and this in this moment.’ And damn it, if she wasn’t like spot-on and right.” This inspired the crew to go in and re-edit footage. “We literally went into a new recording session within 48 hours to do this one note,” Levy said. “She had only one note, and it was a great note, and it made the sequence better.”
So the big question here is…why? Madonna doesn’t seem like the type to care too much about comic book movies, but it seems like she did this one for her son. Levy mentioned that Madonna’s son is “a big Deadpool fan,” and that that alone “was an advantage” that helped them secure the rights. Maybe she can get “Like A Virgin” into the next Spider-Man movie. Why not!
Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26th.