Why is Deadpool & Wolverine’s director pirating his own movie?

You wouldn’t steal a car, you wouldn’t steal a television, and – unless you’re Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy – you wouldn’t circulate pirated footage from your own movie. 

Once upon a time, you could sit in the cinema and bask in the glow of one screen. Now, viewers snap pictures of a movie’s title screen and shamelessly record clips on their phones; as Arthur Fleck once howled, “nobody’s civil anymore.” 

Social media has rotted our brains. Like a nicotine itch, some people can’t resist the urge to whip out their phones and post photos and footage during a film, just for the virtual pride of having been there. Younger generations clearly weren’t traumatized by the scary FACT pirate in the early aughts. 

Deadpool & Wolverine is an especially criminal example. Clips of the Merc dancing to NSYNC’s ‘Bye Bye Bye’, Chris Evans’ Human Torch cameo, and more have been shared across Twitter in all of their 420p, squint, crackling-audio glory – and its director is all too happy to get his hands dirty. 

Shawn Levy just shared a bootleg clip from Deadpool & Wolverine

Hugh Jackman’s performance as nu-Wolverine has earned well-deserved praise, particularly in one scene where he maims Deadpool… psychologically. It’s a standout moment, and if you want to rewatch it, don’t worry – go to Levy’s page, and you can watch a bootleg clip of it.

“Rarely have @VancityReynolds & I had more fun writing anything for anybody. @RealHughJackman took this speech and used every word as a murder weapon,” the director wrote alongside the video, which has now amassed nearly two million views. 

There’s a salient fact here that’s being casually (and perhaps willfully) ignored: recording and distributing recordings from screenings is illegal. No ifs, no buts: it is prohibited by law – and, perhaps even worse, it’s really bloody annoying. 

“Did anyone actually watch the movie, or are all you dipsh*ts just recording it on your phone and posting it on Twitter?” one user reacted, while another wrote: “Why is bro quoting a bootleg clip of his own movie?”

“So we just pretending that pirated clips swirling around is okay now?” a third commented, and a fourth added: “I understand your excitement, but you are replying to a video that was taken illegally in the theatres.”

Put your phones away!

Here’s the thing: I get it. At this point, phones are an extension of ourselves, inextricably tied to nearly all aspects of life; if we can document something we’re enjoying so we can watch it again later and share it with our friends, why shouldn’t we? 

It’s not enough to emerge into the cold light of day and tweet, “That was good!” People need something more: a cry for engagement (correction: help). 

There’s a more practical argument here too: if people see this clip and like it, maybe they’ll buy a ticket to watch Deadpool & Wolverine in theaters. Everybody wins.

Except they don’t. All this does is normalize bad etiquette; the sanctity of the theatrical experience is in slow decay, mainly because people can’t focus on one screen for two hours at a time. 

It’s symptomatic of a larger, depressing issue: people are desperate to view movies through the prism of having already watched and loved something rather than giving themselves over completely to any experience. As soon as you touch your phone, you’ve disconnected.

Weirdly, it makes me respect a bygone age of piracy. If you wanted to watch a movie illegally, you had to make some concessions: accepting the high probability of a virus via Limewire, knowing that any cam-rip will be borderline unwatchable, and a free streaming site will probably riddle your screen with killer pop-ups. 

The people who record entire movies and upload them online (it is incredibly illegal, obviously) are, for better or (definitely) worse, carrying out a shady service. If you feel the urge to record a clip in the cinema, look inward; as Philip K. Dick once said, “To admit one’s own addiction would be to seek and find a cure.” 

After watching the movie (in theaters!), check out our breakdown of Deadpool & Wolverine’s Easter eggs, all of its cameos, and our ranking of the MCU movies.