20th Century Studios

Ryan Reynolds Finally Admits to Leaking Original DEADPOOL Footage

Originally posted on Nerdist | By Kyle Anderson | Last updated Sep 8, 2025 7:52 PM ET

It has fallen into the realm of movie legend. 20th Century Fox was hesitant to greenlight an R-rated, more comic-accurate Deadpool movie with Ryan Reynolds given how poorly X-Men Origins: Wolverine turned out. In order to illustrate the tone and level of violence the makers were after, director Tim Miller produced a short bit of CG test footage for what would eventually be the iconic overpass/car fight. Reynolds provided the voice. That footage ended up online and became a fan-favorite. That excitement ultimately led to Fox greenlighting the movie. But what nobody knew is who was responsible for leaking the test footage. Now we know; it was Reynolds himself.

At the Toronto International Film Festival, Reynolds finally copped to leaking the Deadpool footage to get fans hyped, thus proving the idea had legs. From EW: “Yes, I cheated a little, but I think I was onto something that people would be interested in,” Reynolds said in a conversation with moderator Anita Lee. “And I’m grateful that I listened to that instinct, and I’m grateful that I did the wrong thing in that moment.”

“Some a–hole leaks it online and I’m like, you know, looking at the guy in the mirror brushing my teeth,” he said. “And I’m like, ‘Dude, what have you done? This could be punishable by law! But the internet forced the studio to say, We’re gonna make this movie. And 24 hours later, that movie had a green light.”

The eventual 2016 movie, with a budget of a relatively small $58 million, made over $780 million worldwide. That’s a pretty darn good return on investment for anybody. Deadpool as played by Reynolds became one of the most popular of the cinematic superheroes and remains so. Deadpool 2 in 2018 made just over $785 million, though it had a $110 budget. But the real big winner was last year’s Deadpool & Wolverine which cost $200 million but raked in $1.338 billion. Who thought R-rated superhero movies wouldn’t work?

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.

This article first appeared on Nerdist and was syndicated with permission.

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