‘Deadpool’ director defends Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman divorce jabs: ‘All in a playful spirit’

nypost.com:

Deadpool & Wolverine” cast’s personal lives in the new Marvel blockbuster, director Shawn Levy said every crack was mutually agreed upon.“We never did a joke about or with anyone that we didn’t run by them first,” Levy, 56, told Variety. “Whether it was scripted, like the Daredevil line, or unscripted.”Beware, there are spoilers below.After Jennifer Garner’s Elektra is reintroduced, Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool offers condolences for the death of Daredevil, who was played by Garner’s ex-husband, Ben Affleck, in 2003’s “Daredevil” (which Post critic Lou Lumenick awarded half a star.)“Oh, it’s fine,” she responds.Garner, 52, and Affleck, 51, were married for 10 years and announced they were divorcing in 2015.Another gag made light of co-star Hugh Jackman’s separation from wife of 27 years Deborra-Lee Furness. “He’s usually shirtless,” Deadpool says of Jackman’s Wolverine. “But he’s let himself go since the divorce.”Jackman, 55, and Furness, 68, announced they were splitting up in September 2023.“Those lines wouldn’t be in the movie if Hugh and Jen didn’t think they were funny,” Levy added.“Ryan or I would always run the lines by performers and make sure everyone felt comfortable and that we were never punching down.

It was all in a playful spirit that everyone felt good about.”The director of the R-rated MCU hit, which has so far grossed $824 million worldwide, also had a laugh about rampant prerelease whispers that Taylor Swift was going to make a cameo appearance in the movie — she didn’t.“That was one of the loudest rumors that came out of nowhere,” Levy told the outlet. “It was never true.