When Deadpoool became a hit big earlier this year a lot of the success was attributed to the creative chemistry between star Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller. Unfortunately it looks like the two have hit a bit of a rough spot in their relationship. Fox recently announced that Miller would be leaving the upcoming sequel over creative differences with Reynolds. Why did this happen and what does this mean for the future of Deadpool 2?
Apparently the split happened over two key issues. The first was a disagreement over what tone of the film should take. Miller wanted to use Deadpool 2 as a chance to stretch his director’s wings a little. He was hoping for a sequel that put more emphasis on action and style, like the X-Men movies with which Deadpool shares a loosely connected cinematic universe. Ryan Reynolds’, however, wanted to play up the more comedic elements. He wanted more snark, more fourth wall breaking and more improv. The other big disagreement was about casting. Specifically, who should strap on the oversized shoulder pads to play X-Man fan favorite Cable? Miller wanted to cast Friday Night Lights coach Kyle Chandler. But Reynold’s seemed to feel that Chandler didn’t have quite the right level of old man grizzle to play Scott Summers’ aging son. Instead, he wanted to cast the current king of grizzled old man action stars, Liam Neeson.
Ultimately it was inevitable that the studio would come down on Reynolds’ side. The star managed to negotiate a huge pay raise to reprise the role, complete with creative control and casting approval. This all points to Deadpool 2 falling more in line with Reynolds’ take on the franchise, a superhero comedy that leans harder on the comedy than the superhero-ing. And while we’ll definitely miss Miller’s insane visuals it does make sense to play up the stuff that made the first Deadpool so unique.
But what do you think? Will loosing Miller be a wound that Deadpool 2 can’t recover from? Or are you excited to see Reynolds in more control of the project? Let us know what you think in the comments.
