Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: deadpool & wolverine, kevin feige, ryan reynolds

Deadpool & Wolverine: Kevin Feige Shot Down Ryan Reynolds First Pitch

Kevin Feige explains why he shot down Ryan Reynolds's first pitch for what would eventually become Deadpool & Wolverine.

Ever since the Fox buyout was done and it was confirmed that the X-Men, Deadpool, and others would be integrating into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, people wondered how they would accomplish that. Were they going to start from scratch? Were they going to try and figure out a way to justify bringing some aspects of the Fox universe over while leaving the parts that didn't work behind? It was a big transition that everyone involved needed to think about, but the one everyone talked about the most was Deadpool. After star Ryan Reynolds worked so hard to get that version of the character on the big screen and with how well the first two movies did critically and commercially, it seemed like a classic "don't fix what isn't broken situation." However, it wasn't that simple, and bringing Deadpool into the Marvel Universe was complicated enough that the first pitch for what would eventually become Deadpool & Wolverine is nothing like the movie we are getting.

Reynolds explained to Empire that the initial pitch was a "Rashomon story about Wolverine and Deadpool and something that they got into together, but told from three completely different perspectives. It was a way to make a large-scale movie in a very small way."

However, Marvel Megaboss Kevin Feige shot down that pitch, and he explained to Empire that it was because he was trying to think of the big picture in terms of the X-Men and the Cinematic Universe as a whole." The truth is, I wasn't even sure how to incorporate Deadpool yet," Feige admitted. "I was very much thinking about how to bring mutants and the X-Men into [the MCU], and I thought it needed to be more than just playing the hits. But the truth is, Ryan is an idea machine. So he may have pitched that to me, but he also pitched 25 other thoughts and ideas."

As Feige said, Reynolds wouldn't be deterred because one idea didn't work out for Deadpool & Wolverine. In true overachiever fashion, Reynolds admitted that he wrote about "about 18 different treatments" for the film before they landed on the one that would eventually become the film. They weren't all massive blockbusters either and varied in size and scale.

"Some of them almost like a Sundance film, a budget of under $10 million, sort of using the IP in a way that they previously hadn't used, and I pitched bigger movies, and I pitched things in-between," he explained.

While it took a little while for everyone to settle on the right idea, once it all came together, it came together very quickly, and even more so once Hugh Jackman went on a long drive and agreed to come back as Logan. Producer Wendy Jacobson described it as follows: "We definitely spun our wheels a little bit trying to find the reason for this movie to be. Once Hugh raised his hand, two months later, we were prepping. It was honestly one of the fastest turnarounds I've ever seen." So, for those worrying that this movie was rushed or something, it sounds like that wasn't the case, and they all had to work pretty hard to figure out the right way to thread the needle and make Deadpool joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe works on every possible level.

Deadpool & Wolverine: Summary, Cast List, Release Date

Shawn Levy directs Deadpool & Wolverine, which stars Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin, Morena Baccarin, Rob Delaney, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, and Matthew Macfadyen.

Kevin Feige, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, and Lauren Shuler Donner produce with Louis D'Esposito, Wendy Jacobson, Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, George Dewey, Simon Kinberg, and Jonathon Komack Martin serving as executive producers. Deadpool & Wolverine is written by Ryan Reynolds & Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick & Zeb Wells & Shawn Levy.

Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine opens in U.S. & Canadian movie theaters on July 26 and will be available in IMAX, RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, Cinemark XD, and premium screens everywhere.

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