WWE Hall Of Famer Kevin Nash Reacts To His Role Being Recast In Deadpool & Wolverine

WWE Hall of Famer Kevin Nash isn't exactly shy about sharing his opinion, so when the role he played on the big screen was recast in Marvel's box-office hit "Deadpool & Wolverine," he had something to say. The titular characters' first outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe featured a number of returning Marvel characters and cameos from previous Marvel movies produced by 20th Century Fox, including returns for Dafne Keen, Chris Evans, Jennifer Garner, and Wesley Snipes as X-23, the Human Torch, Elektra, and Blade respectively. However, Nash's character, the Russian, from 2004's "The Punisher," was recast to be played by Billy Clements. 

In "The Punisher," Nash's character is sent to assassinate the titular character in his home. However, the character's time on screen is short-lived and he is killed during the confrontation. Nash reacted to the "Deadpool & Wolverine" recasting during "Kliq This," saying, "That doesn't even ... that looks nothing like the character I played. That looks nothing like the Russian. It looks like they gave somebody a favor."

Clements may be new to the role of the Russian, but he has also played other minor roles as well as working as a stunt double in MCU movies "Black Widow" and "Eternals," as well as the MCU Disney+ series, "Secret Invasion." 

The Punisher is referenced multiple times in "Deadpool & Wolverine," with at least two incarnations of the character being sent to the Void. In Nash's movie, Thomas Jane played the protagonist, though he was previously portrayed by Dolph Lundgren in the 1989 adaptation and later by Ray Stevenson in 2008's "Punisher: War Zone." Jon Bernthal portrayed the character in the "Daredevil" and "Punisher" series on Netflix, which also featured the Russian played by Keith Jardine. Given that the Russian dies in "The Punisher," it actually makes sense that Nash wasn't brought back into the fold.

Perhaps anticipating how people would perceive his comments on the recasting, Nash clarified that he wasn't actively in the market for acting roles. 

"I love when people say, 'Oh Nash is trolling for movie parts.' Hey guys, again man, I'm 65 years old," he said, sarcastically remarking, "Yeah, what I want to do in life is, I want to go someplace that's not my crib, and be in a hotel, and work a 12-hour day. And then leave, and go home, and while I cook and prepare my meal and eat it, go over lines for tomorrow. And while I sit in makeup the next day, have somebody run lines with me, and then every time I get a break, run lines again before we shoot a scene, or a scene we're not in, to find somebody to run lines with."

He may recall that acting sometimes entails worse things than having to run lines or having one's role recast: while filming "The Punisher," co-star Thomas Jane actually stabbed Kevin Nash on accident during their fight scene. "That was a bad day," Jane said in a later interview. "I gotta tell you, when I was swinging around, and grabbing the prop knife, and he's there, and I plunge it into his chest ... and it stabs him, and it goes in, and I'm looking at the knife, I'm looking at him. Kevin, he's just looking down at me, and there's a knife sticking out of his chest ... Yeah, that was rough, and you know what made it worse? He was so nice about it. You're like, 'Oh my god, this guy's going to knock me across the room.' Just out of a reflex. He just sat there, looked at the knife, looked at me and shook his head. I sent him a couple cases of beer, if I remember right."