Ryan Reynolds reflected on making the ‘Deadpool’ franchise in a recent chat with The New York Times ahead of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’s release. He recalled giving up on his own salary to have writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set during the first film’s production:
“No part of me was thinking when ‘Deadpool’ was finally greenlit that this would be a success. I even let go of getting paid to do the movie just to put it back on the screen: They wouldn’t allow my co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set, so I took the little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could form a de facto writers room.”
Fox Didn’t Pay The Writers
20th Century Fox’s ‘Deadpool’ credited Reese and Wernick for writing the screenplay before Ryan Reynolds was added as a co-writer in the sequel. The screenwriters confirmed after the film’s release in 2016 that the lead actor paid from his pocket instead of the company:
“We were on set every day… Interestingly, Ryan wanted us there, we were on the project for six years. It was really a core creative team of us, Ryan, and the director Tim Miller. Fox interestingly wouldn’t pay for us to be on set. Ryan Reynolds paid out of his own money, out of his own pocket.”
Reynolds Prefers Limited Budget
Now, the team has expanded to include Zeb Wells and director Shawn Levy for the ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ script. Disney funded the film’s production, but Reynolds recently told Variety about the budget:
“Necessity is the mother of invention. The more constraints you place on a creative process, the more you think outside of the box. So, personally, I didn’t want more money than we needed. We wanted just enough money to make what we set out to make, but also find ways to creatively pivot.”
‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is set for release on July 26.
