When reports started funneling out claiming that the upcoming Deadpool movie with Ryan Reynolds was looking to be rated PG-13, you could practically hear the collective cries of fans all around the world. If there was any hope of bringing the same humor and cringe-worthy gore from that test footage to the big screen, it would have to delve into R territory. However, it looks like all hope is not lost.
Ryan Reynolds recently spoke to Entertainment Weekly and stated, when asked about the possibility of an R-rated cut of the upcoming film:
The debate rages on. We’ll see.
We know that’s not much to go on, but if there’s one thing that the actor and the film’s director, Tim Miller, understand, it’s the fans. Ever since Deadpool first appeared in the X-Men movie universe in the first Wolverine movie, there was heavy feedback that audiences wanted to see a proper portrayal of the "merc with the mouth." Miller and Reynolds had been talking about and lobbying for a Deadpool movie for quite some time, and then the "leaked" (some suggest that it was intentionally released) test footage that emerged went viral and changed everything. This was enough justification for 20th Century Fox to give the fans what they wanted, but will they be able to with a PG-13 rating?
Reynolds called Deadpool the independent film of the superhero movie-verse, so perhaps it has a fighting chance to offer the more graphic content that’s in line with the character’s comic iteration. Although, he does say that it doesn't have as big of a budget as other comic movies. If anything, it seems like the ideas Miller has for Deadpool are in line with an R rating. So even if what gets released in theaters is PG-13, we’re crossing our fingers that an alternate version awaits us somewhere down the road. We can dream, can't we?
Nonetheless, the fans, including Reynolds, are pumped to see Deadpool hack ’n’ slash up the silver screen. Speaking of the character in further detail to EW, he said,
He’s a character that’s aware he’s in a film, he’s aware that he breaks the fourth wall. I mean, he does certain things that are unlike anything else in the X-Men Universe yet he is a part of the X-Men Universe. So it makes it a little challenging, I think, to find a way.
Accompanying Ryan Reynolds on this adventure are Transformers and Silicon Valley funny man T.J. Miller as Weasel, Gotham star Morena Baccarin as Copycat/Deadpool’s conflicted love interest, Colossus and MMA fighter turned actress Gina Carano as the Morlock known as Angel Dust. The Deadpool film is currently set for release on February 12, 2016, which will be followed by X-Men: Apocalypse and the Channing Tatum-led Gambit movie.
