From Hunt for the Wilderpeople to a superhero Hollywood film, 15-year-old Wellington actor Julian Dennison's short career is about to get a blockbuster boost.
As it turns out, it's not just Taika Waititi taking the superhero universe by the short and curlies - one of his Wilderpeople is too.
Dennison has now left the wilder-bush for the big time - a key role in the sequel to smash hit Deadpool.
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While Deadpool is most definitely pretty cool, Dennison had originally imagined his mate, Waititi, would at the very least throw him a cameo on Thor: Ragnarok.
"Taika was doing pre-production on Thor while we were doing that," he explained. "I was expecting a call to cameo in that, but I didn't... everyone was in it except for me."
Instead, here he appears in Deadpool 2 as Russell, a mutant superhero playing with serious fire.
It's both easy to forget and completely obvious that Dennison is just 15 - a Kiwi kid living a life he never imagined, working with Oscar-nominated actor Josh Brolin on a major league Hollywood blockbuster, trading insults with Ryan Reynolds.
He also entirely understands exactly what kind of hero he really is.
"My whole life I've wanted to play a superhero, but there was never a superhero on film that looked like me," Dennison says.
"It was really cool to bring Russell - Fire Fist - alive, so other kids who look like me, who are a bit bigger than other kids in school, can go, 'I wanna be like Fire Fist.'
"I wanted a superhero to look like me... It's cool I can inspire kids who are just like me."
Dennison and Deadpool 2 hit the big screen in New Zealand next week.
Newshub.
