Ryan Reynolds explains why he refused payment for Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds has recently disclosed that he relinquished his salary for the first Deadpool film to ensure its creation. The actor, known for his role in Green Lantern, initially portrayed Deadpool in Hugh Jackman’s 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film that did not fare well with audiences. Despite the film’s poor reception, Reynolds tirelessly campaigned to produce a standalone Deadpool movie, which finally hit theaters in 2016.

Reynolds spent over a decade pushing for the movie and, in a candid conversation with The New York Times, he revealed that in order to get the film produced by 20th Century Fox, he had to forgo his salary. Instead, Reynolds paid for writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to be on set from his own pocket.

“No part of me was thinking when Deadpool was finally greenlit that it would be a success,” Reynolds confessed. “I even let go of getting paid to do the movie just to get it back on the screen. They wouldn’t allow my co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set, so I took what little salary I had left and paid them to be there so we could form a de facto writers room.”

The actor shared that the journey of making Deadpool was a significant learning experience, primarily about working under tight resources. “One of the great enemies of creativity is too much time and money,” Reynolds noted. “And that movie had neither. It fostered a focus on character over spectacle, which is harder to execute in a comic-book movie.”

Reynolds further emphasized his commitment to the project, saying, “I was so invested in every micro-detail and I hadn’t felt that way in a long time. I wanted to feel that investment not just with Deadpool, but with everything.”

This revelation follows Reynolds’ earlier expressions of regret regarding the portrayal of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. In that film, the character was depicted with his mouth surgically sealed, removing the very essence of what makes Deadpool iconic—his fourth-wall-breaking, witty banter.

Many fans felt that sealing Deadpool’s mouth was sacrilege, especially given that his nickname is “the merc with a mouth.” Reflecting on this decision, Reynolds admitted, “It’s easy to say we got some things wrong. Deadpool sewing up his mouth was one of the all-time foolish studio notes.”

Source: The New York Times, 20th Century Fox