In recent weeks we have been doing plenty of reporting about the immensely popular Ryan Reynolds. Set to break out next summer with the release of Green Lantern, the actor has been mentioned in every nearly casting story in the last month. But while it will be interesting to see the actor go up against Denzel Washington in Safe House and we'll likely clamor for more while walking out of Green Lantern, there's one film on the horizon that we all really want to see: Deadpool. Since his all-to-brief appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, fans have been clamoring for a solo film that actually resembles the real character. To make the situation even rougher, Reynolds has expressed a personal love of the character, going as far as to talk with the screenwriters on the project, Zombieland's Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, everyday while it was being written.
But love aside, nobody knows if there will be time for the actor to make a proper Deadpool film. Reynolds recently praised the script written by Reese and Wernick, but it hasn't made the project's fate any clearer. Now it looks as though it will come down to one of two projects.
Speaking with io9 during a press junket for Reynolds' new film, Buried, the actor shed some light on his upcoming schedule and it looks as though a choice will have to be made soon between two comic adaptations: either R.I.P.D. or Deadpool.
People sort of ask this question, like I have any say in the matter. They're both movies I'm interested in, they're both movies that are in fast-track development. But I never say I'm doing a movie until I break for lunch the first day. Because it's such a crapshoot, this industry. Everything's so fickle and so contingent on so many factors, aside from just an actor. And because it has an actor, and because these films have interested directors, it's obviously likely that they'll both get made. But I think it would be more likely that only one of them gets made with me.
If a vote were to be taken by fans to choose whether they would rather see Reynolds in R.I.P.D. or Deadpool I would be shocked if R.I.P.D. received even a single vote. It's a simple case of "well-known and beloved character" vs. "a comic people outside of regular readers have never heard of." Unfortunately, this news doesn't make things look great for Deadpool. While Reynolds may be happy with the script, the project still doesn't have a director while R.I.P.D. recently brought on Red director Robert Schwentke. If there's anyone that should be moved by this news, it should be 20th Century Fox. If they don't want one of their potentially massively popular future films to die, they need to hire a director yesterday and start getting people to commit to the project. It's time to prepare for a good ol' fashion arms race.
