Ryan Reynolds Updates 'Deadpool' Status

I know Gregory Ellwood from HitFix through Twitter, where we occasionally discuss box office numbers and not much else. So because he's a pretty good dude - and appealing to my rarely seen sympathetic side, a Clippers fan - I'm happy to give him all the credit in the world and then some for dredging an answer about Deapool out of Ryan Reynolds. For me, the real problem with X-Men Origins: Wolverine is that it only sets up the first X-Men movie, as far as Wolverine is concerned. I'm sure you can wring two gawdawful action movies out in between this and that, but you don't really need to; the stage is set. Instead of a real origin story about Wolverine worth a damn, Fox used it as a the first domino to fall, kicking off a possible slew of spin-offs, which would begin with Deadpool. The only problems with doing a Deadpool movie are A) He was barely in the damn Wolverine flick, and B) Ryan Reynolds is not a bankable star. Because Deadpool is not a very well-known character outside the real inner circle of comic book fans, those two factors really come into play. It would be like spinning off fairly regular bar patron Paul from Cheers instead of Frasier, or that other guy from Wham! releasing a solo album. The last one happened, by the way, so see what I mean? Regardless, we're getting Deadpool, which I don't mind, but I do wish they'd done more to justify it in Wolverine. As for what it will entail, that's where Gregory Ellwood from Hitfix comes in. He talked to Reynolds, feverishly promoting The Proposal, and Mr. Scarlett Johansson gave some specifics:

"Well, I'm intimately involved with it. We're just trying to break a story right now and figure out who the villain is going to be and all that stuff. But, it's going to be just like the comic books. I'm gonna have a messed up face and you may see some flashbacks of Wade earlier in his life, but primarily what you see is what you get in the comics and that's the goal. And there is no better place to draw material from then the comics, which are incredible."

I think Reynolds should be a bigger star than he is, and I can't really figure out why it hasn't clicked for him yet. Is Deadpool the answer? Well, it's certainly a preferable answer to a line-up of romcoms, which appear to be what's lining his pockets the most. I just think that because he ought to be higher up in the pecking order that he might be better suited for one of the other comic properties out there, like Green Lantern or even Captain America, even though he's Canadian. (It's not like a Captain Canuck movie is on the way, though...)

Comments

[Greg]

I think the next movie that has X-Men in the title will make 100 million, but after that, it's up to the star and story. I agree, Ryan should be a bigger star than he is, and if the Deadpool film gets good reviews, then maybe he finally will be.