Deadpool was an exciting, bombastic blockbuster with an irreverent tone that audiences adored so much it’s now the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. To put it another way, Deadpool was a huge success. But this triumph was done in the face of 20th Century Fox, who were never confident that Deadpool would work. In fact, Deadpool’s director Tim Miller has now revealed the one studio note that truly frightened him and probably would have ruined the film if he hadn’t fought it.
Like Batman Begins and Man Of Steel before it, Deadpool decided to take a non-linear approach to its structure. The spine of the film was a fight on the free-way that saw Ryan Reynolds’ titular character going toe-to-toe with Ed Skrein’s Ajax, who had previously turned him into the deformed superhero. But Tim Miller has now revealed that, after watching the film, 20th Century Fox weren’t too keen on the film being non-linear. This was something that Tim Miller hugely disagreed with, and he told Deadline that it forced him to fight the studio.
The [studio] note that frightened me the most was, ‘We should make this linear.’ The story was always this fractured narrative, and to be honest, it’s a pretty simple story. To tell it linearly would not make that exciting of a movie
I think we can all agree that Tim Miller was completely right to fight back against the studio on this creative decision. The manner in which Deadpool zigged-zagged from different plot points made the film vibrant, energetic and subversive, while it also suited the way in which Ryan Reynolds would break the fourth wall and just Deadpool’s lovably foul-mouthed and borderline offensive attitude. In fact, I can irrefutably declare that if Deadpool had proceeded in a linear fashion then it would have lost the punky edge and vibrancy that made it so appealing.
Thankfully, either 20th Century Fox were able to notice the error their ways or Tim Miller did a stellar job of convincing them otherwise. Because, as most of you are aware, Deadpool was released in a non-linear fashion and its $756.8 million gross from just a $58 million budget proves that it did rather well for itself.
That’s just the beginning too. Because 20th Century Fox have already greenlit a Deadpool sequel that is currently in development, with the same creative squad of director Tim Miller, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and producers Simon Kinberg, Ryan Reynolds, and Lauren Shuler Donner overseeing its production. I’m guessing 20th Century Fox will give them plenty of leeway this time round.
