Ryan Reynolds on Why It's the Right Time for a DEADPOOL Movie
I'm really hoping that Deadpool turns the superhero film genre on its head with its wildness and craziness. I hope it opens the door to more R-rated superhero movies. I was incredibly surprised to learn that Fox was going to allow this movie to move forward with an R-rating, and if it's successful, there's a good chance that we'll see more of them get made.
During an interview with GQ, Ryan Reynolds talks about the Deadpool solo film he's been trying to get off the ground for six years. He discusses the motivational speech he gave before they started shooting, how the film is different from Green Lantern, and why it the right time for Deadpool to get his own film.
Reynolds started off by talking about when they were on set for the first day of shooting:
“Yeah! Oh, I made sure we marked it, too. Like, we just started rolling, and I was like, ‘No, no, hold on.’ We went in the other room and we huddled up: ‘We’re making this movie! We’ve been trying to get this movie made for six f***ing years, and here we are. We’re doing it right now. Just remember this second. Just take a moment to be thankful for that.’ And then we all went out and just started shooting and dicking around and had some fun.”
The actor went on to talk about why he feels it's the right time for Deadpool, saying:
“It’s a genre. There are good horror movies and bad horror movies. There are good comedies and bad comedies. Think of it like that. Think of it less about just superheroes. I do believe that they explore similar archetypes a lot, so I think that notion can be somewhat fatiguing, maybe. I think one of the reasons that Deadpool has gained a lot of momentum isn’t just that it’s funny or isn’t just that it’s rated R. The meta aspect is very important. So I think Deadpool’s coming along at the right time, because it’s also speaking to that generation and that group of people that have seen them all, seen all these comic-book films and enjoyed them all to varying degrees of success. But I think it’s speaking to them as though the guy in that red suit is one of them, to some degree.”
That's a great explanation. Reynolds was then asked about returning to comic book films after his experience with playing Green Lantern in the lack-luster Warner Bros. film. This was his reply:
"Deadpool was different because there wasn’t a big budget attached to it. There was not a tremendous responsibility to meet some kind of bottom line. Those kinds of superhero movies when you’re out front, there’s a vast and quite frightening budget attached to them. This one had a super-reasonable budget, and it was subversive and a little bit different, and to me a little refreshing in the comic-book world. But you always have trepidation. When you’re out front, you have trepidation.”
He then went on to joke about what he might be doing right now if Green Lantern would have been a big hit:
“I think I would be probably in prep for Green Lantern 3 right now. That sounds about right.”
I'm actually relieved that Green Lantern failed. If it were a success, we probably would have never seen a solo Deadpool film, and Deadpool is a way better character than Green Lantern! Deadpool will be released in theaters on February 12th, 2016.