Zazie Beetz is best known for portraying Vanessa on the hit FX series Atlanta alongside Donald Glover. Her performance in the critically-acclaimed series caught the attention of Ryan Reynolds, who ultimately requested she be cast in the forthcoming Deadpool 2. However, a part in a physically-demanding Hollywood blockbuster comes with a price.
Opening up about her role as Domino in the highly-anticipated sequel, which is slated to debut in theatres this Friday, Beetz notes how all the hours spent in the gym left a sour taste in her mouth. "I learned more than ever that I don’t like working out," she admits. "To make a distinction, I hate weight training, and I kind of enjoyed fight training, it’s a lot more of a mental engagement. It’s a full body thing, there’s variation so that was a lot more interesting for me."
Beetz eventually found a silver lining with the whole experience. "It’s also interesting to have to push yourself so much and see where that mentally takes you and emotionally takes you. It was a huge adjustment. But also I kept thinking, this is my job right now and I have to do this to do the best work that I can," she reveals.
After months of intense workouts, Beetz confesses that she was anxious to put her newfound physicality to use. "On my first day of doing action I was so nervous because I was like ‘Oh God I hope this has paid off. We had been working so much, and I was thinking hopefully it’ll look good and I remember doing the first take and then seeing the playback and I was like 'it’s f***ing amazing!"
Elsewhere, Beetz professes how she still feels uneasy about co-starring in a massive franchise that will significantly elevate her public notoriety. "I’ve been talking a lot to my boyfriend [actor David Rysdahl] about this, we both feel, because it affects the both of us, that we’re crossing this bridge that we’re burning down that we can’t go back."
Co-star Josh Brolin offered some sage words of advice for dealing with fame, telling Beetz "in the end it’s a choice in how you do your day-to-day and to take it with a light foot and to not take it all so seriously."
