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has already been greenlit.
Adapted from the Marvel
character created in 1991
by Fabian Nicieza and Rob
Liefeld,
Deadpool
tells the
origin story of Wade Wilson
(played by Reynolds),
whose terminal cancer
is ‘cured’ by the same
Weapon X program that
created Wolverine, leaving
him permanently disfigured,
but impervious to pain and
able to regenerate from his wounds.
Dubbed 'The Merc with a Mouth', this potty-
mouthed, amoral superhero is unique among
comic book characters in that he can break the
fourth wall and Miller had long been a fan.
“When I came on board the project, the script
was already great,” he says. “It was one of
the best scripts I’d ever read, which was why I
wanted to do it so much. Plus, I’ve been reading
comic books pretty hard-core for the last 35
years or so. If you came to my studio, you’d
see a giant two-storey wall of bookshelves that
house my years and years of comic book collecting.
I’m primarily a Marvel guy, so of course I’d read tons
of Deadpool. Captain America’s very serious and the
X-Men are very serious, but Deadpool was one of
the few that had a real sense of humour about it and
didn’t take itself so seriously. In my stack of comic
books, it was always the nice palate cleanser to the
more serious stuff.”
Reynolds shared Miller’s passion for the character
and the fledgling director is full of praise for his
star. “He’s a brilliant actor, and for a first-timer it’s
really interesting to watch him work. We’d done the
first week of shooting, and I’m not one of these
guys who thinks I have to know everything, and I
went over to Ryan and said, ‘dude, what could I be
doing better?’ He said, 'Tim, this has been the most
satisfying week of filming I’ve ever had. You don’t
know everything, but at least you don’t pretend like
you do.' We had a really great experience and there
was no drama on the set.”
Because
Deadpool
does break the fourth wall,
the film is stacked with jokes that poke fun at the
whole superhero world – including Fox’s own stable
of characters. However, Miller says the studio didn’t
interfere and pretty much gave him a free rein.
“We got no pushback from Fox at any point,” he
says. “Though I think they were little prepared for
how weird this movie is! There’s some really odd
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stuff in there, and tonally it’s all over the map. I
think it does a nice job of balancing it, but you go
from action to tragedy to weird situation comedy.”
And while the long development process
was frustrating, the delays probably ended up
helping the film: the first wave of superhero
movies opened up the world of comic books to a
mainstream audience and now they are ready for
something different.
Miller agrees. “Now people are familiar with it
and they’re ready to take the training wheels off
the bike and look to something more aggressive,
like
Deadpool
. As much as it’s for the hard-core
fan – and I don’t think we ever sold out on who
the character is – we’ve also made a real effort
to be inclusive and make it accessible to people
who haven’t read the comic. Humour, really, builds
most of that bridge. We like to laugh, and this one’s
funny. We’re not packing it too much with insider
references where the audience will feel stupid if
they don’t get it.
“I want my wife to like the movie, which is why
I made sure that Ryan took his shirt off a little bit.
There’s a love story there and I think people really
respond to Vanessa’s character. I think you care
about the characters before they start beating each
other up, which is really important to me."
•
Deadpool
is out on
June 3
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)
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)
NOT SO
SUPER HEROES