‘Deadpool’: Ryan Reynolds Wrote Script While Working On ‘Green Lantern’

With two Golden Globe award nominations under it’s belt and a chance to win a Producers Guild, Writers Guild and Directors Guild award ahead, Deadpool has become a serious enough awards season contender to merit an Oscar campaign video ahead of next weeks Academy Award nominations announcement. However, while the unexpected accolades for the film have been just a part of the success story for star Ryan Reynolds, there was a time where it looked as though the project would never get off the ground. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reynolds discussed how he developed the film while working on Green Lantern for Warner Bros. and how he felt that the latter films disastrous reception would cost him the chance to play the Merc with a Mouth.

Reynolds explained that he made one last effort to greenlight Deadpool before accepting the offer to play Green Lantern.

“I quickly called the executive I knew at Fox who had Deadpool and I said, ‘Look, I am standing at the altar right now, and I’m about to say “I do” to someone else. I will walk away from this if you even think that you can make a Deadpool movie with me.’ And he said, ‘Unfortunately, no, I don’t think that that’s gonna happen.’ So I went off and did Green Lantern.”

Reynolds revealed that progress on Deadpool developed while he was working on Green Lantern.

“The weird plot twist was, somehow, some way, Deadpool got reinvigorated at Fox while [Green Lantern] was happening. … What a lot of people don’t know is [writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick] flew to New Orleans and, while I was shooting Green Lantern, we were actually all together writing Deadpool.”

Reynolds recounted how Warner Bros. payed for the home where he crafted Deadpool‘s story.

“We were breaking the story of the original Deadpool movie in a house that was being paid for by Green Lantern‘s dime.”

Reynolds explained why he was concerned that accepting the Green Lantern had hurt his chances of playing Wade Wilson even if the project got off the ground.

“I thought, ‘If Green Lantern is a huge hit, they’re never gonna accept me as both, and if Green Lantern is a huge failure — which it ended up being — they’re never going to hire me.’”

Of course, while Green Lantern was far from the franchise launching hit Warner Bros. had hoped for, the eventual production of Deadpool finally had to chance to redeem himself for both Green Lantern and his previously lambasted turn as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Now, as the film currently enjoys what may be unprecedented awards season success for a superhero movie, Reynolds must certainly be feeling some vindication.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter