It's been a long time since we last heard anything new on the Deadpool front, and that's not exactly good news. When I spoke with producer Lauren Schuler Donner this past fall at an event for the Blu-ray release of X-Men: First Class, she told me that the future of the project would be decided by the end of the year. It is now 2012 and the future of Deadpool is still undecided. There is a glimmer of hope, though, as it seems that Fox may have produced 8-minutes of test footage to decide whether or not the Merc With The Mouth will be getting his own feature film.
Bleeding Cool has gotten their hands on a video from the Amazing Arizona Comic Con in which Robert Liefeld, who created the Deadpool character, hints that footage actually exists. Staring by complimenting director Tim Miller and screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Liefeld said, "I may or may have not seen some sort of test of footage that would blow your mind if you saw it and go holy crap and that’s Deadpool in costume. Katana swords, guns, shooting people’s faces off and making me laugh." While he kept using the "may or may not" language, the comic book writer/artist basically confirmed that the studio shot the scenes to see how the movie would work. Said Liefeld, "And all I can tell you, it’s close. It’s closer that it’s even been to going, or going Naaah, that’s too scary a proposition to make an R-rated Deadpool movie."
This is easily the most encouraging thing we've heard yet about the Deadpool project. While Ryan Reynolds' schedule may still make things difficult, the fact that Fox is willing to go this far just to see if the project works is very good news. I wouldn't recommend getting too optimistic, as we've been burned before, but things are looking up.
