Ryan Reynolds talks making Deadpool and where he might be in a Green Lantern franchise
It’s been a long time coming for the Merc with a Mouth. Ryan Reynolds has been attached to play the character as early as 2004, when a solo film was in development at New Line Cinema. He eventually got to play a version of the character in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but the talk of a solo film still continued. Now we’re just months away from the movie being released, and Reynolds says he was eager to mark the occasion when they finally found themselves on set.
“Yeah! Oh, I made sure we marked it, too,” Reynolds tells GQ. “Like, we just started rolling, and I was like, ‘No, no, hold on.’ We went in the other room and we huddled up: ‘We’re making this movie! We’ve been trying to get this movie made for six f***ing years, and here we are. We’re doing it right now. Just remember this second. Just take a moment to be thankful for that.’ And then we all went out and just started shooting and dicking around and had some fun.”
The outlet also asked Reynolds about returning to the world of superheroes for Deadpool, having previously starred in the less-than well received Green Lantern in 2011.
Deadpool was different because there wasn’t a big budget attached to it. There was not a tremendous responsibility to meet some kind of bottom line. Those kinds of superhero movies when you’re out front, there’s a vast and quite frightening budget attached to them. This one had a super-reasonable budget, and it was subversive and a little bit different, and to me a little refreshing in the comic-book world. But you always have trepidation. When you’re out front, you have trepidation.”
Reynolds also spoke about why he felt now was the time for a Deadpool film to come, especially when famous filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg are saying superhero films will “go the way of the Western.”
“It’s a genre. There are good horror movies and bad horror movies. There are good comedies and bad comedies. Think of it like that. Think of it less about just superheroes. I do believe that they explore similar archetypes a lot, so I think that notion can be somewhat fatiguing, maybe. I think one of the reasons that Deadpool has gained a lot of momentum isn’t just that it’s funny or isn’t just that it’s rated R. The meta aspect is very important. So I think Deadpool’s coming along at the right time, because it’s also speaking to that generation and that group of people that have seen them all, seen all these comic-book films and enjoyed them all to varying degrees of success. But I think it’s speaking to them as though the guy in that red suit is one of them, to some degree.”
The actor also went on to muse about what he’d be doing if 2011’s Green Lantern had been a success, saying:
“I think I would be probably in prep for Green Lantern 3 right now. That sounds about right.”
Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, Deadpool tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
Ryan Reynolds stars as the title character alongside T.J. Miller as Weasel, Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Morena Baccarin as Copycat and Ed Skrein as Ajax. The film will also feature the mutant Colossus, though Daniel Cudmore has confirmed he will not appear as the character. Reynolds has also expressed a desire that Hugh Jackman might cameo as Wolverine, though it remains unconfirmed as to whether or not he will actually appear.
Tim Miller is directing the movie from a script by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Confirmed to be rated R, Deadpool is scheduled for a release on February 12, 2016.
