It’s that time of year when “Best Of” lists start rolling out and I start going, “That came out this year??” Yeah, Tim Miller’s Deadpool may feel like it’s been with us forever (thanks to its extended lead-in) but it came out in 2016. That said, the sequel is close to starting production with its new director, John Wick’s David Leitch, even if they don’t have some big characters cast. Star Ryan Reynolds has recently weighed in on all of it.
Deadpool 2 lost Miller in October, to the dismay of many. He and Reynolds (along with writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick) put together a one-of-a-kind feature that was a perfect display for the Marvel character’s particular charms. What made it worse was it appeared to be creative differences between the two that led to the parting of ways. “All I can really add is that I’m sad to see him off the film. Tim’s brilliant and nobody worked harder on Deadpool than he did,” Reynolds told GQ last month.
The actor echoed that statement to Entertainment Weekly today while talking up Leitch, saying everyone was a fan of his work.
“He’s just a guy who’s so muscular with his action. He also really understands those Deadpool sensibilities and where we need to take the franchise from here. And I love John Wick. One of the things that David Leitch does that very few filmmakers can do these days is they can make a movie on an ultra tight minimal budget look like it was shot for 10-15 times what it cost.”
Cost was one of the considerations that led to Miller’s exit and producer Simon Kinberg explained their smaller approach to EW, “We have to resist the temptation to make it bigger in scale and scope, which is normally what you do when you have a surprise hit movie. But actually stay true to the tenets of it’s the tone and the style and the humor that make it so special — it’s not the explosions and the special effects.”
The sequel doesn’t have an exact release date yet (we think we’ve narrowed it down thanks to recent dates set by Fox) but Reynolds confirmed to EW they are close to starting production. However, they still haven’t cast classic Marvel characters Cable and Domino. We already know Stephen Lang, Dolph Lundgren, and Ron Perlman have expressed interest in Cable. Anyone in particular you could see in those roles?
(Via Entertainment Weekly)