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Deadpool
director Tim Miller explains why he never gave up
on bringing Marvel’s cult superhero to the screen
F
or a hardcore comicbook fan
like Tim Miller, the opportunity
to make your feature film debut
with one of Marvel’s cult favourites was
a dream come true. However, it almost
didn’t happen.
The co-founder of Blur Studio,
which specialises in visual effects and
animation for the motion picture and
video game industries, Miller was taken
on as director in 2011 and even went
as far as shooting some test footage.
However, the project became bogged
down in development hell at the studio
and at one point Deadpool looked, err,
dead in the water.
“We got it to a point where it was
either make it or not, and Fox decided
not,” he recalls. “Hollywood is full of
projects that don’t happen, so it wasn’t
like I was shocked – but I was crushed.
When it didn’t happen, the writers and
I – and Ryan [Reynolds] too – we really
never gave up. My agent said, ‘dude,
just walk away’, but I loved it so much.
We kept pushing and I won’t tell you
the long trail, but two things happened:
the footage we’d shot leaked, and
Simon Kinberg came on board as a
producer. Fox really trusts him, and he’s
a real gatekeeper for all the Marvel stuff
at Fox. Simon said, ‘look, the script is
great, and Tim’s not a total loser. I really
think you guys should make this film’.”
It proved to be a very smart choice.
Deadpool
is now the highest grossing
TIME
MILLER