It’s incredible to think that had the test footage not “accidentally” leaked online in July 2014, effectively letting skepticism get the better of 20th Century Fox, the foul-mouthed mutant known as Deadpool would’ve never made it to the big screen. Although apparently, the studio wasn’t the only obstacle that the Merc with a Mouth had to overcome.
Given the tempered depiction of the skilled swordsman in the abysmal 2009 Wolverine origin film, specifically the sewing shut of the Merc’s most valuable asset – his mouth – one can see how Fox could’ve had some reservations. Nevertheless, the hurdle in question had more to do with the “big red body condom,” than studio disquiet.
According to Wade Wilson himself, Ryan Reynolds, the moment the suit was put on, he thought the film was toast.
“With the first movie, I put it on, I thought, ‘We’re done, we’re dead. This is never gonna work.’ I took the camera for two days and just played with stuff. I just sort of learned, you know, not unlike a silent film or Marcel Marceau or these guys, you just be bigger. You just have to go bigger and push through the mask. Somehow it works. Somehow it translates.”
Having taken the project fundamentally upon himself – since even before director Tim Miller was given “a low-six-figure budget” by 20th Century Fox to produce some test footage – rather than give up, Reynolds persisted. The Canadian-born talent studied the work of French actor and mime Marcel Marceau and soon discovered that his acting and emoting needed to be bigger in order to penetrate the mask and connect with the audience.
Thankfully, with Tim Miller and later David Leitch at the helm, the Merc with a Mouth was able to iron out the kinks and has now led the once cynical studio to another highly successful R-rated farce in the form of Deadpool 2, this time to the tune of $615 million worldwide, thus far. Peculiarly, though, Reynolds doesn’t seem to keen on a threequel, but should that change, we’ll be sure to let you know.