Aside from signs that Ryan Reynolds should perhaps steer clear of comic book adaptations for a bit (those signs being “Green Lantern” and this past summer’s flop “R.I.P.D.”), the actor has stayed loyal to his long-gestating “Deadpool” vehicle. First portraying a version of the scarred and unstable mercenary in Gavin Hood‘s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” Reynolds has repeatedly attempted to push a hard-R version of the story through 20th Century Fox with director /visual effects specialist Tim Miller. However, after an extended push-back from the studio, the director and actor have spoken up about their clinging hopes for bringing it to fruition.
Talking to ClevverMovies recently (via Dark Horizons), Miller revealed that “Zombieland” screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have turned in a new draft of “Deadpool” to Fox, and now they’re just waiting on the studio to acknowledge its possibilities. “ ‘Deadpool’ is still alive, and we’re just waiting for the studio to embrace what an amazingly fucking awesome film this would be,” he said. “Ryan is ready, I am ready, the fans are more than ready, we just need that elusive green light.”
Also, during a junket interview for kiddie flick “Turbo,” Reynolds explained (via THR) that “[in] its current iteration the movie’s actually very small” and that the filmmakers are presenting the film to the studio in as low-impact terms as possible. “We’re saying ‘Look, the budget is minimal. Therefore, can we do this the way it should be done?’ ” For Miller, Reynolds, and the character’s fans, that ideal way is with a hard R-rating and a caustic tone—two aspects which, according to Reynolds, remain in Reese and Wernick’s script, which reportedly mocks Deadpool’s role in ‘Origins.’
“The script is probably available online, it leaked,” he said. “But it’s very meta, I mean the character knows he’s in a movie, he knows he’s in a comic book. He names studio executives in the script. So, it’s kind of a risky property. But, you know, we’ll see.”
Calling the project “developed to high heaven,” Reynolds nonetheless is confident that “it’ll get made, eventually. In our lifetime? Yeah, I think so.” That’s confidence for you. Who knows the state of comic book films when that miracle happens though, and whether or not anyone will entrust Ryan Reynolds with a franchise character again.