Back in October, Collider/Variety verified a shortlist of actresses vying for the role of Neena Thurman aka Domino in Deadpool 2 before Tim Miller’s exit.
While we think actresses such as Mary Elizebeth Winstead and Ruby Rose have a strong chance to land the role. There more reasons to believe that Sofia Boutella might have an edge on many of these contenders and would land the role.
Domino is a mutant with the ability to subliminally and psionically initiate random telekinetic acts that affect probability in her favor by making improbable (but not impossible) things to occur within her line of sight, thus causing her to have “good luck” and her opponents to have “bad luck.” This phenomenon can be anything from an enemy’s equipment failure to hitting just the right switch with a stray shot to shut down an overloading nuclear reactor. This unconsciously controlled talent is triggered when she is in a stressful situation (such as fighting or escaping). This effect constantly emanates from her body at all times and is completely subconscious.
Domino is extensively trained in various armed and unarmed combat techniques, as well as in covert operations. She is a superb markswoman, athlete, and swimmer, and is adept in the use of explosives.
Boutella is an extremely high-profile international actress in comparison to her other Domino candidates. Her last couple of studio films included action flicks Kingsman: The Secret Service, Star Trek Beyond, and The Mummy.
Also, she has plenty of connections to the X-Men franchise.
Sofia was somewhat discovered by X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn, who had her play a character similar to classic Bond villains in his comic book film Kingsman. The 20th Century Fox film was also R-rated and proved to them that Deadpool indeed had an audience.
She recently worked with Deadpool 2 director David Leitch on his official directorial debut (David is uncredited on John Wick) with the spy film The Coldest City co-starring with X-Men franchise actor James McAvoy and Charlize Theron.
Her dance background makes her an excellent candidate for stunt-heavy action roles as seen with parts that include Jaylah (Star Trek Beyond) and Gazelle (Kingsman). Domino is also described as an athlete/sportswoman and Sofia fits that description above and beyond her competition. The mutant character would need daily makeup sessions which Sofia is no stranger to.
Having worked with Leitch on The Coldest City means that she’s likely already has worked with his stunt team over at87Eleven. We imagine that whoever is hired will have to spend a good chunk of time training with them to get ready for weapons use and fight sequences. Unlike Wade, Domino won’t be wearing a mask making it less easy for a stunt-double to be used for a bulk of the shots.
Sofia is one of the only women of color on the shortlist along with lesser known Mexican-American actress Stephine Sigman (Narcos, Spectre) being Algerian-French born in Algeria.
There was a social consciousness behind the Deadpool’s overlooked diverse casting.
Brazilian-American actress Morena Silva de Vaz Setta Baccarin beat out many of the Anglo contenders for the female lead. We’re hoping that the same thing happens again with Sofia too.
Remember, Olivia Munn turned down the role to play Psylocke instead.
Deadpool screenwriters went out of their way to make the relationship between Wade and Vanessa to be strikingly sex-positive giving the impression they were looking to paint a more realistic comic book world. They’ve even teased the idea of Wade being open to landing a boyfriend in the future.
Legendary singer-actress Leslie Uggams (Roots) ended up playing Blind Al when everyone was campaigning television icon Betty White for the role. The Leslie Uggams Show (1969) was the first network variety show to be hosted by an African-American since The Nat King Cole Show of the mid-1950s. She was a pivotal figure in breaking the color barrier in television/entertainment, I’m sure the reference was overlooked by many.
Karan Soni‘s Dopinder (said to be returning) role was playing around with the Indian-American Hollywood stereotype by making the character one of the more interesting in the film and actually giving him a backstory instead of being the usual window dressing. Spending most of his time getting terrible love advice from Wade.
We’d imagine that having an Algerian female lead would also buck certain expectations as we’ve been trying to champion diverse casting with all superhero projects. Considering Domino’s appearance allowing her to be played by anyone.
Until we hear officially casting for either Cable and Domino, we won’t know for sure but we’ll be rooting for Sofia Boutella none the less.