How Kick-Ass 2 Could End Up Helping Deadpool Get Made
Being realistic, it's not hard to see why Twentieth Century Fox is hesitant about making a Deadpool movie. While the project certainly has plenty of very passionate supporters, it does have some key issues, particularly the fact that it demands an R-rating and that most of the movie will have star Ryan Reynolds' face either hidden behind a mask or completely deformed by cancerous tumors and scars. We continue to play the waiting game as the studio decides whether or not the film would be worth an investment, but screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are still incredibly passionate about making it happen.
Speaking at press event for the upcoming G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which they also scripted, the writing duo spoke with Coming Soon about the status of Deadpool, which, sadly still seems to be stuck in the development hell that it's been fighting in for the last few years. Calling it their "favorite script [they've] ever written," the biggest step forward that the project has taken over the last couple years is a bit of test footage that they were able to film with director Tim Miller. "He directed about a three-minute long test sequence from the movie, all built within a computer," Reese told the site. "Ryan Reynolds did the motion capture for it. He came in and did the voice for it in an audio session. It is awesome. It is the greatest three minutes." Added Wernick, "If we showed it to you right now, you would lose yourself."
The duo also spoke to the R-rating that the project would surely receive - the movie is about a moral-less, psychotic, loud-mouth mercenary after all - and the confidence that they get whenever a film with a restricted rating does well at the box office, like Ted and Bridesmaids. One adult-oriented comic book movie that could very well open the doors, however, is Kick-Ass 2, which will be in theaters this August. Said Wernick, "We're hoping Kick-Ass 2 does great because that could open people's eyes to the audience that an R-rated comic book movie can bring in."
As torturous as the wait for Deadpool has been, we can all at least be happy that Fox isn't trying to destroy the integrity of the project by censoring it and making it PG-13. It's nice to know that if the movie actually ever gets made it will get made right. But just when that will happen is still a complete mystery.
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Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.