Director Tim Miller Dropped Out of DEADPOOL 2 Because Ryan Reynolds Wanted Control of the Franchise

After the first Deadpool movie ended up being a huge and surprising success, fans were looking forward to seeing director Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds make a sequel. Then not long into development of the sequel, Tim Miller left the project, and now we know why.

While talking to KCRW’s The Business podcast, Miller explained that the reason he left is because Ryan Renolds wanted full control of the project:

“It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise. You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can’t. I don’t mind having a debate, but if I can’t win, I don’t want to play. And I don’t think you can negotiate every creative decision, there’s too many to make. So Ryan’s the face of the franchise, and he was the most important component of that, by far. So if he decides he wants to control it, then he’s going to control it.”

That’s interesting. You’d think someone just starting his directing career would want to try and work and collaborate with other people. Miller went on to explain:

“I’ve always been pretty good at the ‘moving on’ thing. I care deeply, and then you get to this point where you’ve gotta make a decision, and I’m pretty good about putting it in my rearview mirror. We had a meeting at Fox, and the writing was on the wall, so I said, ‘I get it. I’ll quit, and you guys can do what you need to do.’”

It’s hard to think that Reynolds is so controlling that he would drive his directors away because it seems like directors and other actors love working with him. With Deadpool now a part of Marvel Studios and Disney, whatever Reynolds’ control has been on the franchise has definitely been limited in some ways.

What do you all think about Miller leaving the project because Reynolds wanted control of it?