STACK #139 May 2016

FEATURE DVD & BD

NOT SO SUPER HEROES

role. The result wasn’t a success. Fans protested

the incarnation of the character heatedly. This was a character most distinguishable by his relentless wit, but Hood had Deadpool’s mouth sewn shut for half the movie. A planned spin-off that would have revolved around the Deadpool character was in jeopardy. Following the negative reception to Origins , longtime X-Men series producer, Lauren Shuler Donner, proposed a re-evaluation of the character. The idea was to disregard Hood’s contentious interpretation and focus on the traits that the comic iteration of Deadpool is famous for, such as his tendency to break the fourth wall. Donner enlisted Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to write a script. A month into the writing process, an early draft was leaked online. Fans responded enthusiastically. It was enough for the production company, 20th Century Fox, to concede a small budget for test footage to be filmed. Donner approached a number of directors before deciding onTim Miller, in early 2011. Miller had been nominated for an Academy Award for his animated short, Gopher Broke , and had worked on the title sequences for The Girl with the DragonTattoo and Thor: The DarkWorld , but had never directed a feature film. Miller was given a small budget and was left to his own devices. After three years, it seemed as though the project had faded away. In July 2014, the test footage, created with visual effects and Reynolds in a motion capture suit, was leaked online. Fox didn’t sanction the leak. The source of the online release remains a mystery to this day, although thinly veiled hints from Reynolds point to Miller. The footage went viral and fan response was overwhelmingly positive. It was enough to reignite studio interest in the character. “I had meetings on the Fox lot that following week, and that Deadpool footage was all the buzz,” Rob Liefeld, creator of the Deadpool comics commented. “It had an impact. You could see it and feel it in the executive suites. It was palpable.” Fox gave Deadpool the green light and production went ahead with a $58 million budget, roughly half that of the average superhero film. The marketing campaign for Deadpool was unorthodox, reportedly on orders from Miller, who

KICK-ASS A customised wetsuit, a pair of batons and a high pain threshold turns average teen Dave Lizewski into a crimefighter who kicks ass. (Played by Aaron Taylor- Johnson in Kick-Ass , 2010)

THE CRIMSON BOLT Arned with a pipe wrench, short-order cook Frank Darbo tells crime to "Shut Up!" and declares war on the sleazy drug lord who seduced his wife. (Played by Rainn Wilson in Super , 2010)

DVD & BD

was keen for the perverse take on the superhero genre to encompass all aspects of the production. Initial images of Deadpool showed the character sprawled in front of a fire on a bearskin rug. One particularly memorable billboard simply presented the skull emoticon followed by the excrement emoticon with an ‘L’ at the end. Somehow it worked. No one in Hollywood can quite pinpoint the reason as to the success of Deadpool . An exasperated executive from a rival studio commented that, “They did everything wrong and it turned out right.” Perhaps that’s the point. Authority over the direction of the industry is more ambiguous than it has ever been. Fans are emerging as a commanding influence. Without the fans, and without the internet buzz, one of Hollywood’s biggest successes of the year would never have happened. American film is an industry that can emulate success slavishly while suppressing individuality. The recent spout of extended cinematic universes is just one example of the studio obsession with repeat success. If Deadpool has proven anything, it’s that audiences are craving something unique.

DEFENDOR Delusional road crew worker Arthur Poppington trades his tools for a bag of marbles and a squirting plastic lime to fight crime and his nemesis, Captain Industry. (Played by Woody Harrelson in Defendor , 2009)

GRIFF THE INVISIBLE Bullied office worker Griff becomes a crimefighter by night, clad in an invisibility cloak that makes him highly visible. (Played by Ryan Kwanten in Griff the Invisible , 2010)

• Deadpool is out on May 25

27