On Friday, Deadpool will open to a nationwide audience after a development process that began 11 years ago. After being stalled for the better part of a decade, the film finally shifted into high gear after test footage of the movie leaked online a couple of years ago. To this day it’s never been revealed who was responsible for the actual leak. Ryan Reynolds says he doesn’t know who did it, but he’s pretty sure it wasn’t him. Like, almost totally sure.
Appearing last night on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Ryan Reynolds discussed the process of getting the film made, calling it the worst relationship he’s ever been in. When discussing the infamous test footage leak, Reynolds says there are only four people who could have done it. While Reynolds himself is one of them, he’s not taking credit.
I know that one of us did it. There’s four of us: me, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, and Tim Miller the director. We all said at the beginning that someone should leak it, so the idea was planted, but I’m 70 percent sure it wasn’t me.
As Fallon says, 70% is pretty good odds, but it’s hardly conclusive. Ryan Reynolds is almost certainly making a joke, but previously he has been very clear that he wasn’t the one responsible. Here he’s decided to be cagey. It’s not surprising that nobody has owned up to the leak at this point. Since Fox owned the footage that was put online, whoever did it is technically guilty of theft. While it’s unlikely that 20th Century Fox would press charges against the lead actor, director or writers of Deadpool at this point, the press would be too ugly, it’s probably best that they still remain quiet. Hollywood would likely still frown on the act, regardless of the good intentions, or eventual success that occurred.
We’ll probably learn who leaked the footage at some point. We’ll probably also learn how many of the potential parties were actually involved. Everybody is still playing dumb at this point. Even if Ryan Reynolds didn’t leak the footage himself, he may very well know who did. Everybody is doing a great job of staying quiet. Maybe they’ll admit everything when the sequel comes out. Check out the full interview segment here.
Whoever is responsible that leak caused one of the biggest outcries among fans in the history of cinema. Once the studio understood what they had, they essentially had no choice but to make the film. If the reviews are to be believed, it looks to be entirely worth it. Hopefully, behind closed doors, somebody is taking a bow.
