FILM · 2016 · USA
Deadpool
- Directed by
- Tim Miller
- Runtime
- 108 min
- Studio
- 20th Century Fox, The Donners' Company, Genre Films
316 archived facts 7 topics 2 sources Last reviewed Sep 2026
The origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who, after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.
Summary: TMDB
31 Facts From the Making of Deadpool
- #001
Contains a major spoiler — show
Throughout the film, Deadpool accuses the studio of not having enough money to cover various elements of the movie. In fact, Fox Studios cut $7 million from the film's budget at the last minute, which required the film to be rewritten several times. Among the elements cut from the film were a motorcycle chase between Wade and Francis, the addition of more named villains, and several action scenes. For the latter, the fights were scaled down by having Deadpool forget to bring his ammunition and weapons bags.
- #026
This film's budget was lower than those of all the X-Men, Iron Man, Avengers or Captain America films.
- #046
In early drafts of the script, a joke revealed that Deadpool's mask was actually a store-bought Spider-Man mask worn inside out. This was likely cut due to potential legal issues, since the film rights to Spider-Man belonged to Sony Pictures Studios and later partly to Walt Disney Studios.
- #072
There were plans for cameo roles for various other X-Men, including Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, but the studio rejected all of them because it was too expensive.
- #077
Contains a major spoiler — show
The film recouped its 68 million dollar budget in its first two days of release.
- #097
The Marvel Comics characters Cannonball and Garrison Kane were cut from later rewrites of the script; the latter was specifically dropped over budget concerns about the CGI needed for his cybernetic arms, and the former was skipped over worries that he might be a "stupid hick character."
- #105
It is the highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide, with $782 million, eclipsing the previous record of $742 million held by The Matrix Reloaded (2003). In the United States, with $363 million, it is the second highest-grossing R-rated film after The Passion of the Christ (2004) ($370 million).
- #128
Because of the animation required for Deadpool's mask and for Colossus, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had more freedom than usual to keep adjusting the script during post-production. Ryan Reynolds recorded new lines of dialogue using his iPhone and then re-recorded the lines in an additional dialogue recording session after the film was finished. Among the lines added after shooting were Reynolds doing an impression of Wolverine star Hugh Jackman's natural Australian accent and Deadpool asking whether Professor X was played by James McAvoy or Sir Patrick Stewart at that point in the X-Men timeline, which became many viewers' favorite line in the film.
- #134
According to Tim Miller, the tone changed several times during development, with the studio at one point seeking a PG rating.
- #148
Screenwriter Rhett Reese and director Tim Miller thank James Cameron and David Fincher for helping with the making of the film. Both directors read and liked the early drafts of the script and used their long history with 20th Century Fox Studios to convince executives to give the film a chance. 20th Century Fox initially agreed to only a PG-13 version, but after some budget cuts it accepted the R rating.
- #150
The main reason the film is told in a non-linear way was that "the budget was such that we wanted to start the movie with an action sequence and sprinkle action into the first act, but we couldn't afford to do three different action sequences."
- #166
To create a Deadpool who speaks and emotes in the mask, Ryan Reynolds wore a physical mask with tracking markers while filming and recording clips of himself delivering dialogue without the mask for WETA Digital's animators during post-production.
- #168
In May 2000, Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with Marvel Entertainment to co-produce, finance and distribute a film based on Deadpool. In February 2004, development of the film began with New Line Cinema. However, in March 2005 New Line Cinema put the film back into turnaround, and 20th Century Fox became interested. In May 2009, 20th Century Fox loaned the film to writers, and in April 2011 Tim Miller was hired to direct.
- #182
Jensen Ackles was once set to play Wade Wilson but left the project due to a scheduling conflict with Supernatural (2005).
- #281
By February 2004, David S. Goyer and Ryan Reynolds were developing a Deadpool film at New Line Cinema, having previously worked together on the Marvel film Blade: Trinity.
- #283
New Line Cinema executive Jeff Katz championed Ryan Reynolds for the Deadpool role, believing him the only actor suited to it, but rights issues involving 20th Century Fox and its X-Men films stalled the project.
- #285
The Deadpool spinoff was planned to disregard the Wolverine version of the character and return to his roots with a slapstick tone and a tendency to break the fourth wall.
- #286
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were hired to write the Deadpool script in January 2010. Ryan Reynolds, who worked closely with the pair, said they were chosen because they understood the character's tone right away.
- #287
Robert Rodriguez was approached to direct Deadpool by June 2010 and confirmed a month later that he had received a "really good" script and was weighing the project. By October he had lost interest, and Adam Berg was then considered for the director's chair.
- #288
Tim Miller was hired to direct Deadpool in April 2011, after doing visual effects work on some X-Men films and creating animated shorts including the Academy Award-winning Gopher Broke and a DC Universe Online trailer. The film marked Miller's directorial debut, while Ryan Reynolds closed a deal with Fox to produce it.
- #289
Ryan Reynolds took the lead in Green Lantern after Fox declined to make that project; the 2011 film was a critical and commercial disappointment, which damaged the Deadpool project.
- #290
Fox executives were already worried about Deadpool's R-rated content, and after several meetings the studio concluded the film could not be reworked for a traditional PG-13 rating; Tim Miller was given a low-six-figure budget to produce test footage.
- #292
Test footage for Deadpool was leaked online in July 2014 and received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response.
- #293
In September 2014, Fox scheduled Deadpool for release on February 12, 2016, with production planned to start in March 2015 and Simon Kinberg joining as producer.
- #294
Ryan Reynolds attributed Fox's decision to green-light Deadpool entirely to the leak, and he, Miller and the writers had previously discussed leaking the footage themselves; Reynolds initially thought Miller had done it but later believed someone at Fox was responsible.
- #295
Reese and Wernick wrote a draft of the Deadpool script every year for six years before the film was completed, and roughly 70 percent of their first draft made it into the final film.
- #300
Garrison Kane, Wyre and Sluggo appeared in an early Deadpool script but were cut for budgetary reasons and replaced by Angel Dust; Cannonball, Emrys Killebrew, Patch and Tar Baby were also considered, while Cable was pushed to a possible sequel so the first film could establish Deadpool.
- #301
The writers of Deadpool kept the script's pop-culture references current as the project developed.
- #304
The reduced budget forced a last-minute rewrite of Deadpool that removed roughly nine pages from its 110-page script.
- #305
Reese said the final budget-driven trim brought the script to a place where Fox was willing to make Deadpool, and that its efficiency and shorter length made the movie pace nicely.
- #309
During pre-production on Deadpool, Russ Shinkle and Film Illusions were hired to create the title character's suit, with Shinkle balancing comic book art's exaggerated physiques against reality.
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
Sources for the entries on this page
- Wikipedia Deadpool (film) — Wikipedia
- IMDb IMDb
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