According to Deadline, Tim Miller – The Director of the smash hit movie ‘Deadpool’ left the sequel project on Friday October 21st. While nothing is completely confirmed at this point, word is out that Miller’s departure from the project, which was still in scripting and pre-production stages, is due to creative differences between the two standouts of the cast and crew: Tim Miller and Ryan Reynolds.
But what were these creative differences? The Wrap indicated that these alleged “creative differences” were due specifically to the casting of Nathan Summers, the iconic X-Force progenitor known as Cable. Reports say that Tim Miller wanted Kyle Chandler (The Wolf Of Wall Street, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Robot Chicken) to play the part of Cable while Ryan Reynolds did not want the actor to be his on-screen cast mate. Tim Miller, with a larger budget, also wanted a sleeker more stylized film for the sequel while Reynolds reportedly wanted to ramp up the filth and humor. Ryan Reynolds contract renegotiation includes not only a very sizable pay increase but also a huge chunk of creative control of the film’s direction, which happens to include casting decisions.
Instead of Deadpool 2, Tim Miller will helm a new project for Fox Studios called Influx which will be a science fiction adaptation of a Daniel Suarez novel of the same name.
This news comes as somewhat of a surprise as it was Tim Miller himself, along with Ryan Reynolds and the team of Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick who launched the first film to massive success. On a $58 million dollar budget the film brought in $132 million US dollars on its opening weekend and just over $783 million dollars worldwide. It is widely believed that Tim Miller was the one who first leaked the test footage years ago that ramped up the online demand for this movie to be made. It was this and that immensely positive response from fans that convinced Fox executives to green light the film for production.
It’s not uncommon for directors to leave, cast to change and this type of news to drop but Deadpool had a special formula that made it work on all the levels that it did and that was due to the team that was on the project. Will this change affect the sequel and will it not be that special Deadpool raunch fest that we all know and love? Is this the end of a franchise?
Who will be the next “Overpaid Asshat”? Quentin Tarantino?
