Fox Flat-Out Rejected Ryan Reynolds' First Ridiculous Pitch For Deadpool 2
Tim Miller's 2016 film "Deadpool" was a shot in the arm for the then-overwhelmingly popular superhero genre. Most of the dominant super-movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe were deathly earnest, presenting a vast interconnected mythology of characters that required strenuous note-taking and endless online chatter merely to keep clear. Every plot point was important, and the MCU rarely did anything truly daring, like kill off a beloved character, or question the moral absolutes of a comic book universe (it never became more complex than "hero vs. villain" stories). "Deadpool," meanwhile, was not in the MCU, broke the fourth wall, addressed its own cliched plotting, and overwhelmed audiences with a barrage of improvised dirty jokes that stood far apart from the safe, PG-13 realm the genre typically inhabited. (You weren't about to see Captain America involved in a pegging scene.)
"Deadpool" was amazingly successful, making over $780 million worldwide on a budget of only $58 million, which is minuscule as far as superhero films go. A "Deadpool 2" was all but assured.
"Deadpool 2" was released in 2018 after a small creative kerfuffle. Miller left the project after he and star Ryan Reynolds butted heads over creative control, and David Leitch came in to replace him. In the early stages of development, actor Kyle Chandler was to play the time-traveling badass Cable (that role ultimately went to Josh Brolin). Also, the character of Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) was to become a superheroine called Copycat, and there was to be a cameo from the Thing, a character from the Fantastic Four. Those ideas were all eventually dropped.
According to an 2018 interview with Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show," Reynolds also earnestly pitched a rather silly plot idea for "Deadpool 2" to Fox. He wanted Deadpool to steal a prop from the set of "The Voice."
Deadpool vs. The Voice
Reynolds is notoriously impish and sarcastic, so it's hard to say if this was a joke, or if he actually, earnestly pitched this idea to Fox. Given his tone of voice while talking to Jimmy Fallon, however, he appears to be honest. Reynolds said:
"At the time, we were — well, my first pitch to the studio was not met very well. I pitched them that Deadpool — this is for the sequel — that Deadpool would ... the whole story of the movie would be Deadpool trying to steal the big red chair from 'The Voice.' And they were like, 'No. That's the dumbest thing ever. So, no.'"
"The Voice," for those who might not know, is a singing competition show on NBC that's been running since 2011 and that has lasted almost 600 episodes. It was based on a Dutch singing show and now has versions all over the world. The premise is simple: A contestant sings to a panel of judges who have their backs turned. If a judge is impressed with the contestant's singing voice, they swivel their chair around to look at them. The judge, usually a celebrity, will spend the remainder of the season training them to be better singers.
"Deadpool" has nothing to do with singing, reality shows, or NBC. He's a violent assassin who can't die. Reynolds' idea for a "Voice"-centric story for "Deadpool 2" was merely playful, indicating that Deadpool doesn't always engage in high-stakes hero stories. Sometimes he just wants to steal a pop culture trinket.
Even though that idea didn't come to fruition, Reynolds still got to be playful. He cast Brad Pitt as the Vanisher, an invisible character who doesn't speak. Audiences saw Pitt as the Vanisher for about one second ... when that character was electrocuted to death.