Ryan Reynolds Has an Idea for a Wolverine-Deadpool Movie — and a Plan to Persuade Hugh Jackman
What do you do when your little superhero film actually does the best business of any R-rated movie in history? If you’re Ryan Reynolds, you start cooking up even bigger and bolder things for your next outing as Deadpool — as well as start trying to convince another Marvel A-lister to join you in a standalone adventure.
Speaking to Variety, Reynolds confesses that he’s still cooking up ideas for future follow-ups to last year’s Deadpool, which tallied $783 million at the global box office. Factoring in that it was last year’s most illegally pirated film online (probably in part because it was banned in China), Reynolds thinks it “might have been the first billion-dollar R-rated movie.”
While a sequel to Deadpool is already in development with new director David Leitch (John Wick) replacing Tim Miller, Reynolds (who’s nominated for a Golden Globe for the role) has plenty of other ideas beyond that. “I would love to play Deadpool for as long as they would let me play Deadpool. We have outlines and stories for a number of different films,” he says.
Watch Ryan Reynolds nail this fake interview:
One of those theoretical projects would pair the Merc With a Mouth with Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine. Jackman has been clear that he’s ready to retire his adamantium claws — this March’s Logan is set to be his last turn as the mutant — but Reynolds isn’t letting go of the idea just yet, saying, “I have no idea if I can change his mind. It’s the audience: I would exclusively exploit that relationship to get Hugh back for another one.” For his part, Jackman isn’t saying “no” just yet, telling Variety: “I’m hesitating, because I could totally see how that’s the perfect fit. But the timing may be wrong.”
Regardless of whether he can make a Deadpool-Wolverine film happen, Reynolds is currently pushing forward with the as-yet-untitled Deadpool 2, about which he tells Variety, “The budget is not going to be phenomenally bigger.” He then recants with, “Who knows? Maybe the budget will be bigger — anything can happen.”
We’ll undoubtedly soon know more about Deadpool 2 as its preproduction phase begins to ramp up. And in the meantime, Marvel-ites will get a taste of what a grittier R-rated Wolverine looks like on-screen when Logan — which Reynolds believes might be an Oscar contender — slashes its way into theaters on March 3.
Watch the Logan trailer:
