If you watched the two back-to-back, there’s really nothing similar about Deadpool and Green Lantern apart from Ryan Reynolds presence in both films. According to Reynolds, there’s a simple reason for that. The Entertainer of the Year and Hugh Jackman rival discussed the two films with Entertainment Weekly, revealing his excitement for Green Lantern and his disappointing relationship with Fox at the time:
“With Green Lantern, I don’t think anyone ever figured out exactly what it was. That isn’t to say the hundreds of men and women didn’t work their fingers to the bone to make it as good as poosible. It also fell victim to the process in Hollywood which is like poster first, release date second, script last. At the time, it was a huge opportunity for me so I was excited to try and take part in it.
I still don’t really know what Green Lantern was supposed to be and I saw it while it was in theaters. It was definitely cut from the cloth of every superhero film that was made before the Marvel Cinematic Universe changed the method, but found its release right in the midst of that lead up to The Avengers and the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films. It’s sort of in limbo as a superhero film.
As for Fox and Deadpool, you really have to scratch your head looking back at Fox’s decision making. Reynold’s seemed ready to do it before committing to Green Lantern, but it never happened:
I did however write a letter to Fox right before I had to decide whether or not I was gonna do Green Lantern. I asked one last time sort of like the groom standing at the alter, ‘Will you please be my wife?’ and they said they couldn’t pull the trigger on Deadpool. For too many reasons too boring to illustrate, it just didn’t work.”
That’s not to say that Deadpool would’ve been a success back then. Part of the reason it was a hit came from all the delays and the nature of the film. If all of the behind-the-scenes drama and leaks didn’t happen thanks to Fox greenlighting it way back in 2011, would we have gotten the same movie with the same success?
(Via Entertainment Weekly)