Time for your quarterly DEADPOOL update, courtesy of one of the film's biggest champions, Ryan Reynolds, who first portrayed the character in 2009's X-MEN ORIGINS: THE WOLVERINE. The SAFE HOUSE star was doing press for the release of TURBO in the UK and openly discussed the current state of the film and whether or not he thinks it will ever get made. Deadpool aka Wade Wilson, created by Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, is a tricky character for any studio to greenlight, due largely to, well, the content of his character. Deadpool is an outrageous, violent, and mentally unstable character who constantly "breaks the fourth wall," which is definitely something that puts men with money on edge. Especially if they're named in the script by Deadpool himself.
Here's Ryan:
"[In] its current iteration the movie’s actually very small,. There’s minimal impact to the studio, which is the way we’re kind of presenting it to them. We’re saying ‘Look, the budget is minimal. Therefore, can we do this the way it should be done?’ Which unfortunately needs a Rated R [age certificate] or it needs those elements. The script is probably available online, it leaked.
But it’s very meta, I mean the character knows he’s in a movie, he knows he’s in a comic book. He names studio executives in the script. So, it’s kind of a risky property. But, you know, we’ll see. It's actually, within the last couple of weeks, taken a few very, very small tiptoes forward. In our lifetime? Yeah, I think so. I think if I were a betting man it’ll get made, eventually. I mean it’s just been developed to high heaven. It has great people around it, so we’ll see."
For me, Reynolds was the best thing about the X-MEN ORIGINS: THE WOLVERINE and I felt that he really had the "pulse" of ol' Wade Wilson. I'm sure there are other actors who could fill those crazy boots, but Reynolds has made the strongest case thus far and I'm really hoping this happens soon. Perhaps with Jeff Wadlow (KICK-ASS 2) developing the X-Men spinoff X-FORCE there will be a place for DEADPOOL. I mean, they've got to be considering that avenue, which could serve as another "proving ground" for the character and potentially open up the doors for his solo venture. You gotta watch those fans, though, man. We clamor for something hardcore and then when we get it, the results aren't always pretty. Remember WATCHMEN?
Reynolds will next be seen in Atom Egoyan's THE CAPTIVE in 2014.