Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds admits that the leaked test footage from the upcoming superhero film convinced Fox to start production… and it wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
It’s no secret that the Deadpool footage took the internet by storm last year, when it was unexpectedly released online. Impressing fans and film critics alike, the footage seems to have kickstarted Fox’s efforts to bring Deadpool to the big screen.
But was it really all a coincidence?
During an interview with Yahoo! Movies, the 38-year-old Deadpool actor revealed that the film wouldn’t have gone into production if it wasn’t for that leaked footage.
“Exclusively the leaked test footage,” he said. “100 percent.”
But how did that rather awesome test footage end up online? It seems Reynolds has a theory…
“The initial [leak] came from Fox they think — someone recorded the footage on their iPhone and then released it,” he said. “And then once that happened, somebody hacked into Blurred Studios and got the original footage in high-res and put it online.”
Of course, there have been rumours that someone at Fox leaked the footage on purpose in an attempt to judge critical reaction to the project… and that might well be true. But for the time being, all we have officially is Ryan Reynolds’ story.
“I was excited,” he said. “You can look back at an email chain from all of us, the core group involved in Deadpool, saying ‘We should leak this, f**ker,’ like three years ago… nobody seemed to want to nut up and do that, myself included. Someone did it for us, years later, when we all completely assumed it was dead in the water.”
“Now, we get to make the movie,” he added. “We don’t get to make it with the budget of most superhero movies, but we get to make it the way we want to make it, so that’s even more exciting than having a catered lunch.”
Obviously, the fans are equally excited to see Deadpool take to the big screen… and with word that it’ll be getting R-rated treatment, it looks as though we’ll be getting the Deadpool we all know and love.
But is this really how it all happened?
I can’t help thinking that the leaks may have been part of Fox’s plans… and with such positive reaction to the footage, their hand was tipped to put the film into production. Either way, we finally get a Deadpool solo movie.
And that has to be a good thing.
Deadpool heads to cinemas across the UK on 12 February 2016.
What did you think of the Deadpool footage? Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know what you think in the comments below…
