It’s good to have friends, no matter who you are, even if you’re a Hollywood filmmaker. In fact, having the right people in your corner can have a huge impact on whether or not your film actually gets made or remains just a cool idea. In the case of the upcoming superhero flick, Deadpool, the project got backing from two very unexpected sources: David Fincher and James Cameron.
As it turns out, director Tim Miller is friends with both the Gone Girl and Avatar helmers. According to a recent chat with Digital Spy, screenwriter Rhett Reese revealed that those two, not bad guys to have in your corner, were integral in getting a green light on Deadpool. He says:
Having guys like [David] Fincher and [James] Cameron pushing certainly didn't hurt, and we very well might not be sitting here if it hadn't been for those two.
You may be thinking, with all the superhero movies currently in the works, and the massive popularity the genre enjoys at this particular moment in time, why would a comic book adaptation, especially one based on a title as popular as Deadpool, need such high-powered help to get made? But while it seems like damn near every two-dimensional character to ever strap on a pair of brightly colored tights is getting his own movie (yes, it’s almost all dudes), there are number of things the Merc with the Mouth had to overcome on his way to the big screen.
If you’re familiar with the book, you know that Deadpool is an exceptionally violent comic. And if not, well, now you know, and G.I. Joe told us that’s half the battle. Former soldier Wade Wilson, who undergoes a procedure to battle cancer that leaves him with accelerated healing not unlike Wolverine, is prone to hacking people to bits with his razor sharp swords, among other ways of dispatching hapless villains. This has been some concern, as with this level of violence, the source material almost automatically necessitates an R-rating instead of your usual superhero PG-13 tag. That, by necessity, limits the scope of the audience, not to mention how much money the picture could make and fans worried the studio would shoot for that and hamstring the source.
Then there was the character’s disastrous first introduction in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which was…let’s just say that it was not warmly received by either the general public or fans of the comics. There’s also the issue of Deadpool frequently breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing he audience, which, while not a huge issue, can be a tricky element to tackle in a movie without it coming across as cheesy or forced.
Still, star Ryan Reynolds has been steadfast in his dedication to getting Deadpool made, never abandoning hope. A while back, when some test footage leaked out, there was such a positive reaction that 20th Century Fox gave the project the green light—apparently with an assist from David Fincher and James Cameron—and Deadpool is set to blow our minds with filthy dialogue and brutal violence on February 12, 2016.
