Marvel Studios went R-rated for the first time with ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ but even then, Ryan Reynolds had to take out one line from the movie’s script after a direct request from Disney CEO Bob Iger.
“There was only one line in the entire film that they asked me to take out,” the actor recently told the audience at the Fast Company Innovation Festival (per Deadline). He refused to reveal what the said line was, saying, “No. No. No! And they were right!”
“As soon as somebody says something, like, ‘Ryan, Bob Iger here. Would love it if you’d take that one line out. It’s really going to make our life hard over here.’ As soon as they say that, there’s just something in my brain that goes, ‘Must keep line! Precious!’ And then as soon as the fog of war lifts and you have a second thought, it’s like, ‘Of course, I can take that out. Can I say something about Pinocchio instead?’ And the answer is yes!”
Although neither Reynolds nor anyone from the cast revealed the exact line that was cut, they admitted it went too far. “When I was on set, I was like, there’s no way that’s gonna be in [the movie],” Hugh Jackman himself said of it in a chat with EtalkCTV.
Shawn Levy gave more context during an interview with Entertainment Weekly. The director said that he and Reynolds agreed never to reveal the deleted line but noted that “it was replaced with an equally dirty line of dialogue about Pinocchio shoving his face up Deadpool’s a** and starting to lie like crazy.”
“I was like, ‘Ryan, that’s your replacement line in response to, ‘Can we clean it up?’ That’s Ryan Reynolds for you, audacious to the very edge,” he added.
Deadpool dropped the final joke about Pinocchio during one of the movie’s biggest cameo reveals to take a shot at Disney.