ComingSoon’s Jonathan Sim recently attended New York Comic Con, where he sat down with actress Leslie Uggams. Since 2016, she has portrayed Wade Wilson’s potty-mouthed roommate, Blind Al, in the Deadpool movies. Most recently, she joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe by reprising the role in this year’s summer smash hit, Deadpool & Wolverine. She discussed what it’s like to portray this character and shared her perspective on her career.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now available at digital retailers (Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home) and arrives on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD on October 22.
Jonathan Sim: I’m just so excited to be talking to you about this film because you play one of my favorite characters in literally the entire Marvel Universe. So I wanted to ask about taking on the role of Blind Al in Deadpool & Wolverine; what did it mean for you, and how did it sort of change your life?
Leslie Uggams: Well, first of all, when I auditioned for this role, I had no idea what was going on. What is this character? So I just went with my gut instinct. Then once I got involved in this, I realized that there was a whole new world out there that I’m getting to experience and to have young people so invested in the character that I play is just thrilling.
Do you often get people going up to you and like recognizing you in the street and stuff like that?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Are they like, “Hey, Blind Al!”
Yeah. Or they all, you know, they wanna take a selfie. But all ages and some of the kids that come up to me, I say, “you watching this movie?!” You’re a little young to watch this.
Do you have a 6-year-old ever coming up, like, “Hey, I love you in Deadpool!”
When we did the first Deadpool, I was at the airport. In fact, I was doing Empire, and I was, we were waiting for the plane, and there was we ordered some coffee, and the woman was taking care of him, and there was this little boy, and I was thinking, “is he by himself?” And turns out the woman that was serving us, it was her son, 10 years old. She said, “Oh, he wants to come over to you. He loves Deadpool.” I said, “What?! He’s watching Deadpool.” And I was so amazed at how young they started off watching this movie, but all ages. All ages.
I feel like it does have that appeal where so many people of all ages can enjoy it. Yes. Even if they don’t always understand how inappropriate it is.
It is. Yes. And who’s the one that’s most inappropriate?
Exactly. It’s you. I wanted to ask about working with Ryan Reynolds as well. Is he ever improvising any of his lines, and how do you stay in character? Is it a challenge for you at all?
His mind goes a thousand miles an hour. Yeah. I mean, really, he comes up with…we can shoot a scene, but then he’ll come up with something else to say, and it’s always magic. And so with me, he’ll say to me, “Leslie, do you mind saying this?” And I’ll say, “No, let’s go for it.” Nothing is inappropriate as far as I’m concerned.
Do you remember if there was any one specific line that like maybe he gave you or anything that you came up with on the spot?
I think one of the lines when I’m in the laundromat. And he’s saying some ridiculous stuff, and I’m saying, you know, “God, I miss cocaine.” I wasn’t sure if that was gonna be in the movie, but they used that.
Right, and of course, we can’t even have cocaine anymore with the MCU, but yeah. Like they have a list.
[Laughs.] Not a great influence.
Yeah. No, they were keeping you in line. I think Kevin Feige, they were just like, “No cocaine for your character.” I want to ask, ’cause you, you’ve been working in Hollywood for so, so long and you’ve been working in stuff like movies, TV, stage. How does your approach to a role differ at all, whether you’re performing for each medium, and do you have a medium that you prefer the most?
I love them all. I must say, though, there’s nothing like live. So when you’re doing a Broadway show, the audience is right there, and you can get the feedback right away. You know, you make a movie, and then you can have your fingers crossed and hope that the audience is gonna respond to it and see it. But I love them all ’cause they’re all so different. And your attitude is different because Broadway things are big. But when you do television or movies, it’s small. You can’t be doing, like you would do a Broadway show so that you can shout out to the audience. Yeah. So it’s fascinating. And, of course, I’m always interested in developing a backstory for my characters to make them different.
Now going back to Deadpool, I was thinking ’cause Blind Al has so many of the funniest, most outrageous lines and comebacks. Have you ever used any of her dialogue at all in real life? Or do you ever wish that you could?
Well, I certainly haven’t used them. Yeah, my mouth has been a potty mouth since I’ve been doing this movie. And what’s so funny about it is friends of mine, they’re just shocked that it was me doing this role.
Is it like, you’re really different from Blind Al?
Oh yeah. Totally different. And they’re used to seeing me do other things, but in the last few years, I’m the person that stands on the cliff and says, “okay, I’m gonna jump and see what happens.” And so, you know, since doing the Deadpool and Blind Al and Betty [in Fallout] and Leah [in Empire], I’ve gotten to explore new avenues as far as characters are concerned, not the little old grandmother.
You’re showing off your range here, and I love that about what you can do with this one. If Blind Al was here and she could give Leslie Uggams life advice, what do you think that she would say to you?
Lighten up, girl.
That sounds exactly like what she would say. Just she has no filter.
No filter. None whatsoever.
None whatsoever.
Can you imagine if she could see?
That’s something I don’t even think about. She can roast Deadpool and she doesn’t even really know what he looks like.
No. It’s wild and wonderful and crazy.
I love thinking about that. Would you want to come back and play, play her again in the future?
Over and over and over. She’s so much fun. And plus, the wardrobe is great. She’s in a leisure suit with her sneakers on, and she’s happy.
She lives her own life. I’ve always wondered what was she like before she met Deadpool? I’ve always thought about that.
Well, you know, I believe in the original comic book, they had a strange relationship and he wound up putting her in a box. It’s really interesting. So who knows? She may wind up in a box again.
Thanks to Leslie Uggams for taking time to talk about Deadpool & Wolverine.