Besides for just proving to Hollywood suits that not every superhero movie needs to be family friendly, one of the most satisfying things about watching Deadpool become a raging critical and commercial success earlier in the year was that it was a true passion project. For years, while Fox kept saying no to or butchering adaptations of the fan favourite character, star Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller were the ones who just kept on pushing on until they got the movie made they wanted to make it. Seems that only one of them will keep on doing that for the sequel though.
Deadline reported over the weekend that Miller has now vacated the director’s chair for the upcoming sequel to Deadpool. According to their sources the unexpected departure was due to “mutual creative differences” between the director and Reynolds. There are no further details as to what these differences actually were, but the report stresses that there there’s no bad blood between the pair and that the split was amicable. In fact, Miller still has such a good relationship with Fox that it’s expected that he will jump right into directing another big project for them, the feature film adaptation of Daniel Suarez’s cyber thriller novel Influx. That project already has a script by Dawn of the Planet of the Apes‘ Mark Bomback, and Fox are positioning it as the start of a new trilogy.
Interestingly enough, Miller had never officially signed onto the sequel, but with it’s record breaking success ($782 million worldwide gross on a $58 million budget; the biggest X-Men film of all time; highest domestic grossing R-rated movie of all time) everybody just assumed that he would. Deadpool had been his live-action feature film directing debut, after just being a visual effects artist for many years. In fact, it was Miller leaking the incredibly popular Deadpool CGI test reel he had created that proved to Fox that there was a market for this and that he could make that movie. And what a movie it was!
But all of that just means that whomever Fox and Reynolds – who also acts as producer on the project – pick to replace Miller, is going to have some seriously big shoes to fill. Up until now the biggest talk surrounding Deadpool 2 was who would be cast in the roles of Cable and Domino, but now there’s another wrinkle added to it. With Fox penciling the sequel in for a 2018 release, there’s still a little bit of time to land a new director, but they can’t afford to wait around too long.
UPDATE: Since the time of writing this article, TheWrap has seemingly unearthed some details as to why Reynolds and Miller had a falling out:
We’re told the director was all set to make the sequel, which still doesn’t even have a release date. That’s allegedly in part because when Reynolds’ agents renegotiated his deal, along with a massive amount of money, the star got casting approval and other creative controls. That whole process took more time than Miller (and fans) would have liked, and it shined a spotlight on differences in vision between the two key players.
Miller, who owns a visual effects studio and we’re told did much of the polishing work on the original “Deadpool” for free, wanted more of a stylized sequel, while the actor placed his focus more on the raunchy comedy style that earned the first movie its R rating.
The casting issue also eventually came to a head over the possible booking of Kyle Chandler in the sequel. Mashable movie reporter Jeff Sneider first reported Chandler’s potential involvement with the “Deadpool” sequel during a “Meet the Movie Press” podcast, saying that the actor’s name has been “floating around for Cable for months.” The insider close to the situation tells TheWrap that Miller wanted the “Bloodline” star to play Cable, though Reynolds did not and that the studio, ultimately, backed its marketable star.
Interesting developments.
Last Updated: October 24, 2016
