A Deadpool spin-off movie has been in the works at Fox for some time now, and Zombieland screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick have taken time out to give Collider an update on how the project is progressing.
What we know so far is that a script exists and that Fox has commissioned some test footage, of which Reese sounds extremely positive.
“We have a phenomenal director in Tim Miller, who did about a 3-minute test for Fox, and Ryan [ Reynolds ] came in to do the mo-cap for it and the voice,” says Reese. “And it’s like the greatest three minutes ever. I look at the three minutes and I’m like, ‘That’s the movie, and it has to get made.’
“I think the biggest hurdle right now is convincing the-powers-that-be that it’s okay to have a hard-R rated movie within the Marvel Universe,” he continues. “I think there just has to be a tolerance for the outlier. There has to be a tolerance for this one project that’s not like all the other Marvel projects.
“ Iron Man was like that when it came out,” aggress Wernick. “Tony Stark the hard drinking, fast-talking billionaire was very different from all the other Marvel characters. And look what it became. We feel that way about Deadpool.”
A script was leaked earlier this year, which generated positive reactions among fans, and Reese is taking encouragement from that that they’re approach to the property is the right one.
“The Deadpool fans who found it think that it’s right in the wheelhouse of what a Deadpool movie should be,” says Reese. “And so again, we’re just fighting that uphill battle to convince people, and be positive.” Over to you, Fox…
