Well…shit.
Just when we thought the success of DEADPOOL left everyone happy, smiling and ready to work on the debauchery-filled sequel, this bomb done goes and blows up in everyone’s face. What bomb is that you ask? Oh just the one that involves the first film’s director, Tim Miller, leaving the project. As I said…shit.
Deadline first reported that the director left the project this weekend over “creative differences” for the sequel, but that the split was “amicable.” In instances like this people start jumping to blame the relationship with the studio (much like the Edgar Wright/Marvel incident), but in this case the clash was between Miller and his star, Ryan Reynolds.
More light was shed on the issue by The Wrap, who got the scoop the actor and director had been in dispute for some time, even falling off speaking terms for a time. Tensions came to a head when the two disagreed over casting, namely for the sequel's villain, Cable. News is the rumors surrounding the casting of Kyle Chandler were accurate, and that Miller had wanted to cast the SUPER 8 actor, whereas Reynolds did not. In the end it was up to the studio to decide, and they eventually sided with Deadpool himself.
Among other issues, negotiations for the sequel not only got Reynolds a hefty amount of money, but also a large amount of creative control, including over casting. This slowed down the process for getting the sequel moving, which apparently was not to Miller's liking. As well, Miller is said to have wanted to take a more "stylized" approach to the sequel, whereas Reynolds wanted more focus on raunchy, R-rated humor and antics. So, yeah, there's a whole thing going on.
However, casting appears to have been the biggest straw to break the camel's back, and now Miller is officially gone, and reportedly now looking to get involved in Fox's upcoming INFLUX series based on the Daniel Suarez books, with a script from Mark Bomback, which is rumored to be a trilogy.
Obviously this sucks, not just because Miller did such a great job with the first film, but because everyone from Reynolds, to Miller to writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick seemed to be on the same page—simpatico, as they say. But clearly there were lingering problems, and it sucks they couldn't be reconciled. But what's done is done, and all we can hope for is a good movie at the end of whatever route Reynolds and Co. take. If it's believed Miller wanted Chandler, and Reynolds didn't, we can now assume the actor is out of the running. Lord only knows if that was a good or bad decision, but hopefully whoever gets to be the big baddie will knock it out of the park. Who knows, maybe Pool (Reynolds) wasn't joking when he said Dolph Lundgren would be the best choice during the end credits sequence.
DEADPOOL is aiming for a 2018 release starring Ryan Reynolds with God knows who directing.