In the latest Empire Magazine podcast, Phil de Semlyen sat down with Ryan Reynolds for several minutes to discuss a couple of movie-related topics, mainly in terms of the never-say-die attempt to get a Deadpool movie on the big screen.
Before getting to that, Reynolds was asked about his role as Hal Jordan in 2011's Green Lantern in relation to the rumblings that Warner Bros. is trying to get a Justice League movie concept off the ground. When asked if he'd want to be involved, he let out a sigh.
"I don't know. If you're going to do comic book movies in that vein, you really have to get them right and I believe that Joss Whedon is a guy who just nails it, Christopher Nolan obviously nails it, so if they're going to do it like that, it would be interesting to do. It's just, working on Green Lantern I saw how difficult it is to make that concept palatable and how kind of confused it can all be when you don't really know exactly where you're going with it or where you don't know exactly how to access that world. That world that comic book fans have been accessing for decades and falling in love with... So I don't know. At this point I have very little interest in joining that, but as always, a great script and good director could turn that around."
The interviewer talked up how much he enjoyed Reynolds' role as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and asked about whether we would see him make any kind of cameo in X-Men: Days of Future Past. That led to Reynolds explaining the status of the Deadpool movie that he and director Tim Miller have been rallying for.
"It's so, so far into the rated R and nearly NC-17 world that I just don't know if the studio would ever risk their reputation in doing it. And we the people who have been developing it would never want to do it unless we could do it that way."
Reynolds pointed out that the script has been developed by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, known for writing Zombieland and GI Joe: Retaliation (and also a probably-never-to-be-used-ever screenplay for a Venom movie). While he knows getting a hard R rating is a hurdle, he figures that the lack of needing a massive budget might possibly be able to sway Fox to see it their way.
Unlike the character depiction in X-Men Origins, this version of Deadpool would be self-aware in terms of being a fictional character in a movie. When asked about the continuity aspect, Reynolds pointed out that it would not take place in the same reality as the X-Men film franchise, meaning it would be a spinoff in name only.
"I don't think you can [place the movie in the X-Men timeline], 'cause that character would really sort of sully that whole world. The script is like one rewrite away from Deadpool jumping across the desk at a studio executive and attacking."
A draft of the Wernick/Reese screenplay, dated April of 2010, has been available online for quite a while. In this version, the movie would be a partial adaptation of Deadpool's origin as created by Joe Kelly and Steve Harris in Deadpool/Death Annual '98. With Ajax as the main villain, the movie would also feature appearances by Blind Al, Weasel, Copycat (albeit without powers), Garrison Kane, Sluggo and – strangely enough – Colossus.
Colossus' supporting role is a head-scratcher here, as the script goes out of its way to point out that this isn't the same continuity as the X-Men films, yet Colossus has a role as a major superhero in that world. More confusing is that Colossus isn't even portrayed as a mutant outlaw trying to protect a hateful world that fears him, but is played as a stand-in for a publicly-accepted superhero like Iron Man or the Thing. Not to mention, Colossus and Deadpool have barely – if ever – interacted in any meaningful way in the comics. I wouldn't be surprised if this aspect isn't changed with the final draft, if it ever sees the light of day.
While I don't agree that the movie would deserve anything close to NC-17, it would most definitely deserve the R rating. Not only through the foul language and sexual content, but because it openly deals with the fact that Deadpool can have his arms chopped off and not have to worry about it. Though really, if Reynolds and the gang really want to sell it to the studio, they should just point out that it has Ryan Reynolds sex scenes in there. That has to be worth something.
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I hope this movie get made IN OUR LIFE TIME and i really like Ryan as Deadpool :)