The comic's creator, Rob Liefeld, expressed some concern recently about whether, with all his Green Lantern duties, Ryan Reynolds would still be willing and able to commit to Deadpool. This interview at the LA Times' Hero Complex Blog ought to put his fears to rest: Reynolds seems as stoked about the role as ever. Enthusiasm completely un-curbed.
Deadpool, you'll remember, is the insane former Weapon-X test-subject turned morally reprehensible "merc with a mouth", who's so mad he actually realises he's in a comic and frequently refers to the fact when speaking directly to his readers. He's the polar opposite of the upright Hal Jordan.
The script has been put together by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, with rumblings that Robert Rodriguez may direct. But whoever ends up behind the camera, the project, says Reynolds, "is a nasty piece of work."
"It goes in such a different direction than a superhero movie usually goes," he continues. "It’s just based in so much emotional filth, completely. It’s like Barfly [Barbet Schroeder's biopic of Charles Bukowski, starring Mickey Rourke], if it were a superhero movie. It sort of treads into the world of an emotionally damaged person. I always say that Deadpool is a guy in a highly militarized shame spiral."
Reynolds has already said that Deadpool will "break the fourth wall" as he does in the comics, and, while he doesn't explain the escape route, promises that the new movie won't be beholden to the events of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. So that's a relief.
What comes across most in the interview is the determination, seemingly of all involved (which we hope extends to the Marvel brass) to make this something special, unusual, and true-to-source. "It’s a lot like going to prison for the first day,” Reynolds says. “You got to walk up and hit the biggest guy you see to establish a bit of cred. You have to establish that moral flexibility early on. There’s a gamble to it: you’re going to lose a few people right at the beginning. But you take the gamble and know that eventually you’re going to win them back. You gotta eat the nastyburger to get to the cookies!"
Reynolds will next be seen in Buried, out on September 29. Green Lantern should be with us in June 2011. Deadpool is a while away yet.