20 facts you might not know about 'Deadpool'

Reynolds first placed “The Merc with the Mouth” in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. However, that movie was a total flop and a critical failure. Reynolds’ turn as Deadpool was one of the things most criticized about the movie, as they decided it was a good idea for ol’ Wade Wilson to have his mouth sewn shut.

Clearly, people figured Reynolds would be a good fit for a superhero movie. Maybe because he’s in good shape and many people find him attractive? Before starring as a Marvel character, Reynolds played Green Lantern in a 2011 film. That, too, was a flop. It gets joked about in Deadpool.

Here’s the thing: Reynolds’ journey to starring in Deadpool began even before X-Men Origins: Wolverine. He was first attached to a Deadpool film way back in 2004. He spent years trying to get the film made before it finally hit the theaters in 2016.

Tim Miller got his start with a visual effects studio he co-founded and made his living working as a producer and creating title sequences for films like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Thor: The Dark World. This got him hired in 2011 to direct Deadpool, his directorial debut.

Hey, if you want to be a screenwriter, sometimes you have to take the work offered. That’s especially true when you have little to no prior experience. Rhett Reese, who co-wrote the film with Paul Wernick, also has written films like Zombieland. However, his first screenplay credit is for 2004’s Clifford’s Really Big Movie. Yes, he wrote on a Clifford the Big Red Dog film.

Reynolds was always going to play Deadpool. However, casting the female lead of Vanessa took a little more consideration. Some of the actresses who tested included Taylor Schilling and Rebecca Rittenhouse. Ultimately, Morena Baccarin was cast.

Deadpool is from the X-Men universe, and like the X-Men movies, Deadpool was a product of 20th Century Fox. That said, Fox was a little iffy about including valuable X-Men characters in the Deadpool world. The producers were given a list from Fox of potential characters they would be allowed to use. They chose Negasonic Teenage Warhead because her name is “Negasonic Teenage Warhead.”

Whatever the studio, you could count on Stan Lee to make a cameo in any film based on a Marvel comic. Indeed, he shows up in Deadpool as the emcee of a strip club. Lee isn’t the only notable comic book person to make a cameo, though. Rob Liefeld, who created the character of Deadpool, has a cameo in Weasel’s bar.

Comic book aficionados may not necessarily know the name Leslie Uggams. Her casting as Al, Deadpool’s blind and bawdy roommate, was quite the coup. In addition to appearing in Roots, Uggams has won a Tony and an Emmy in her storied career.

Fox was unsure about a Deadpool film, especially once it became clear it would have to be R-rated. As such, they gave Miller a little bit of cash and had him shoot test footage. That footage leaked in July 2014 and was greeted with massive enthusiasm online. That September, the film was greenlit. Reynolds joked had he known the reaction the leaked footage would get, he would have done it himself.

A lot of people who star in superhero movies get into fantastic shape. Reynolds isn’t exactly letting himself go. However, costumes for superhero films often have some “muscles” added into the suit to make them look even more impressive and composed. Reynolds did not wear a muscle suit, which Miller felt gave Deadpool a slimmer look, more attuned to his look in the comics.

Muscles or not, everybody seemed happy with the costuming for Deadpool, or maybe they were just happy the movie was finally happening. Purportedly, Reynolds and Miller teared up when they saw the completed costume.

Vancouver is often thought of as “Hollywood North” because so many projects are filmed there. Deadpool was no different. It was filmed entirely in Vancouver, with thousands of locals hired to work on the film as actors or crew members. This was also a bit of a homecoming, as Reynolds was born and raised in Vancouver.

It’s not uncommon for writers to be on set when a movie is filming so they can tweak things or pitch alternate jokes. For this film, Fox didn’t want to pay Rheese and Wernick to be on set. They weren’t left out of the process, though. Reynolds paid the writers so they could be there.

As you may have been able to tell, during the process of making Deadpool, a lot of executives at Fox were skeptical and worried. To be fair, an R-rated meta superhero movie was a bold offering. One executive told the writers they felt the movie was a combination of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Natural Born Killers.

Reynolds had spent over a decade trying to get a Deadpool movie made, and he had already experienced the failure of Green Lantern. As such, he was devoted to ensuring that Deadpool was marketed heavily. While he didn’t have much of a budget to work with, Reynolds was a huge part of the marketing push. In addition to heavy promotion on social media, Reynolds had kept one of the Deadpool costumes and wore it to promote the movie.

Fox had given Deadpool a budget of $58 million, which is significantly lower than many superhero movies. In the end, Fox’s and Reynolds’ gamble paid off. Deadpool made a staggering $782.6 million worldwide. It ended up as the ninth-highest-grossing movie of 2016 and became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.  

Not only did Deadpool make a lot of money, people generally liked it. The movie was nominated for two Golden Globes, eight MTV Movie Awards, and six Teen Choice Awards. Sure, those are somewhat-populist award shows, but it was also nominated for awards by the PGA, DGA, and WGA.

It was not hard for Reynolds to get Fox to make a second Deadpool movie, unsurprisingly. In fact, Deadpool 2 was in theaters by 2018. It had a much larger budget of $110 million, but it paid off again with a box office haul of $785 million. Yes, Deadpool 2 replaced its predecessor as the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever. Although, both have since been surpassed by another comic book movie, Joker. The franchise has another chance at the crown with Deadpool 3, due in September 2024, co-starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.

Marvel, under the ownership of Disney, has regained the rights to X-Men characters. That includes Wade Wilson. When Fox was purchased by Disney, it was announced that the X-Men characters would be folded into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Kevin Feige teased Deadpool 3 will take place in the MCU.