Deadpool (film)

Premise

Wade Wilson, a Special Forces operative-turned-mercenary, acquires accelerated healing powers after being subjected to experimentation. Using these powers, Wilson seeks revenge on the man who experimented on him.

Cast

Marvel Comics co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance as a strip club MC. Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld also makes a cameo appearance.

Development

In May 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel Entertainment to coproduce, finance and distribute a film based on Deadpool. In February 2004, New Line Cinema attempted to produce a Deadpool film with writer/director David S. Goyer working on the spin-off and actor Ryan Reynolds in the title role. However, by August, Goyer lost interest in favor of other projects. In March 2005, 20th Century Fox became interested in moving forward on production for Deadpool after New Line Cinema put the project in turnaround. The studio considered the Deadpool spin-off early in the development of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, with Reynolds being cast for the role. After the opening weekend success of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the studio announced that it was lending Deadpool out to writers with Donner acting as a producer. Donner said that she wants the film to ignore the Deadpool of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and reboot the character. She also stated that Deadpool will have the attributes that the character has in the comics, such as breaking the fourth wall. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were hired to write the script in January 2010. Robert Rodriguez was sent an early draft of the screenplay in June 2010. After negotiations with Rodriguez fell through, Adam Berg emerged as a top contender to direct. In April 2011, visual effects specialist Tim Miller was hired as director. On July 28, 2014, visual effects test footage created for the film in 2012 and featuring Ryan Reynolds by voice and motion capture, was leaked online. The following day, the test footage was officially released online by Blur Studio, the company who created the test footage. In September 2014, due to the positive response of the test footage, the film was given a release date of February 12, 2016.

In October 2014, producer Simon Kinberg said that the film would be part of the shared cinematic universe with the other X-Men films.

Casting

In December 2014, Reynolds was confirmed to reprise his role as Wade Wilson / Deadpool. In January 2015, T. J. Miller and Ed Skrein were in talks to appear in the film. In February 2015, Gina Carano was cast as Angel Dust, and Miller and Morena Baccarin were cast in unspecified roles. Taylor Schilling, Crystal Reed, Rebecca Rittenhouse, Sarah Greene, and Jessica De Gouw were also considered for Baccarins role. In March, Millers role was revealed to be Weasel, while Baccarins was revealed to be Vanessa. Later that month, Brianna Hildebrand was hired to play Negasonic Teenage Warhead. In April, Skrein revealed his role as Ajax. In July, Leslie Uggams confirmed she will be portraying Blind Al.

Filming

Principal photography commenced on March 23, 2015, in Vancouver, Canada, and ended on May 29, 2015.

Release

Deadpool is scheduled to be released on February 12, 2016.

Marketing

In July 2015, Miller and cast members Reynolds, Baccarin, Miller, Hildebrand, Skrein, and Carano attended the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con International to present the trailer of the film. The trailer was positively received by attendees, who gave the trailer a standing ovation and requested that it be played an additional time. Graeme McMillan of The Hollywood Reporter opined that Deadpool "looks like the first movie that talks to the fan audience in their own language", and praised the meta humor of the trailer. Joshua Rivera of Business Insider praised the trailer for being "remarkably faithful to the source material", as well as for its humor and action.