Exclusive: Leslie Uggams on having fun playing Blind Al with Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool & Wolverine
Hitting theaters on July 26 is the third installment of Deadpool franchise with Deadpool & Wolverine, featuring the return of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. Jackman returns to the role of Wolverine after his character died in 2017’s Logan. This will also be the first film in which Deadpool is part of the MCU since the Fox-Disney merger. As with the other Deadpool films, this will be R rated which is in contrast to the Marvel films released previously.
Deadpool will change the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Wolverine. Or will he?! The third movie in the Deadpool franchise.
Directed by Shawn Levy, the cast in the film are Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Matthew Macfadyen, Emma Corrin, Shioli Kutsuna, Karan Soni, Leslie Uggams, & Jennifer Garner.
For Uggams, who’s been acting for over six decade, is coming off one of her productive years on the big and small screen. Besides reprising her role as Blind Al in the Deadpool films, Uggams was recognized for her role as as Agnes Ellison in the comedy-drama and Best Picture nominated film American Fiction and as Betty Pearson in the Amazon Original post-apocalyptic drama series Fallout, which based on the video game of the same name.
Uggams, who is best known for her role as Kizzy in the groundbreaking ABC miniseries “Roots,” is also a veteran stage, TV actress. She had her own variety show called “The Leslie Uggams Show,” and won an 1983 Emmy Award for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Variety Series (“Fantasy”). She’s appeared on numerous TV shows and starred in plenty of theater productions including winning the 1967 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance in “Hallelujah, Baby!”. On the film side, she starred in the cult classic “Poor Pretty Eddie” and was featured in “Sugar Hill” opposite Wesley Snipes. She also appeared as Leah Walker in Lee Daniels’ musical series Empire, as well as in HBO’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, and NBC’s New Amsterdam.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Uggams on the return of Blind Al in Deadpool & Wolverine and what to expect from her character.