Ryan Reynolds has finally admitted he personally leaked the Deadpool test footage back in 2014 that directly led to 20th Century Fox approving an R-rated movie based on what was then considered a “fringe” comic book character.
While this won’t come as much of a surprise to fans, Reynolds came clean at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, saying he was “grateful that I did the wrong thing in that moment.”
While Deadpool is now one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine earning over a billion dollars at the global box office, Reynolds struggled to convince executives at 20th Century Fox to give him the adult-oriented standalone Deadpool movie he so craved, after portraying Wade Wilson / Weapon XI in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
CGI test footage, produced by filmmaker Tim Miller in 2012 to show what a live-action, R-rated Deadpool movie would look like, emerged online in 2014, three years after Reynolds had played Hal Jordan in the disastrous Green Lantern movie.
It features the ‘Merc with a mouth’ in full adult-oriented wise-cracking mode, breaking the fourth wall and the bones of bad guys throughout. Fans loved it, strong-arming 20th Century Fox into giving the thumbs up to a Deadpool film in all its R-rated glory.
“Yes, I cheated a little, but I think I was onto something that people would be interested in,” Reynolds said at TIFF, over a decade later. “And I’m grateful that I listened to that instinct, and I’m grateful that I did the wrong thing in that moment.”
Just thinking about the Deadpool Test Footage today pic.twitter.com/00E73Dzy0N
— Nicholas (@NicholasPas5) October 14, 2022
Indeed! 2016’s Deadpool made nearly $800 million at the box office, as did the sequel, 2018’s Deadpool 2. 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine, which brought both characters into the MCU, made a whopping $1.3 billion. It is the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
“I’d shot test footage for it a couple years before, and the studio just didn’t want anything to do with it,” Reynolds explained. “And Deadpool’s a fringe character. People didn’t really know who he was, and I loved him. I was obsessed with it because I loved that he knew he was in a comic book movie. It was kind of meta, it was kind of new. But the test footage existed, and it really was a case study of how this could work. And they just wouldn’t do anything with it.”
Then, finally, the truth: “Some a**hole leaks it online and I’m like, you know, looking at the guy in the mirror brushing my teeth. And I’m like, ‘Dude, what have you done? This could be punishable by law!’ But the internet forced the studio to say, ‘We’re gonna make this movie,’ and 24 hours later, that movie had a green light.”
The question now is, will Reynolds reprise his role as Deadpool in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday, or in a potential Deadpool 4? Deadpool reportedly will turn up in Doomsday in some fashion, although not as a member of the Avengers. While Marvel Studios has yet to make an announcement, Reynolds has also teased his return.
Last month, Marvel Studios was reported to be focused on making an X-Men movie with a younger cast “to keep the cost down,” as well as Black Panther 3, but was apparently in no rush to get Blade or Deadpool 4 out the door.
In May it was reported that Reynolds was in the “early stages” of trying to bring a Deadpool and X-Men movie to life. As reported by THR, Reynolds’ idea for this ensemble film would feature Deadpool, but not as the main character. Instead, he would share the spotlight with three of four other X-Men characters. In fact, it was said Reynolds wants these other characters to take center stage so they can be “used in unexpected ways.”
Reynolds has also talked about why Deadpool should never actually join the Avengers or the X-Men, saying being a part of either team would mean the character was “at the end.”
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
