By the time Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick earned their place as writers on the new “Deadpool” adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds, they’d already had a pretty impressive resume under their belts. They had a smash hit with 2009’s “Zombieland” and later, with 2013’s “G.I. Joe: Retaliation,” they would gain experience working with IP that had a built-in fan base to cater to, but also grow. “Deadpool” felt like a perfect fit for their talents, but Reynolds wasn’t immediately convinced. In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter regarding the release of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Reese and Wernick shared how they changed the actor’s mind.
“We were really bored with origin stories at that point, so we pitched them a version of ‘Deadpool’ where we were already into his career and his life as Deadpool the superhero. And Ryan didn’t go for it,” said Reese.
Apparently, Reynolds wasn’t convinced Reese and Warnick had the depth to touch on the more emotional elements of the characters, but thankfully, the writers had a television pilot they’d written that proved otherwise.
“Ryan passed,” Wernick said to The Hollywood Reporter. “Ryan essentially said, ‘Great but you know what? I don’t think you’re the guys to write this.’ And our agent, Phil D’Amecourt at WME, basically said, ‘These are the guys. Read this pilot, read ‘Watch.’’ It was a dark drama about a voyeur. And Ryan read it and he said, ‘Oh man, these guys, there’s more to these guys than dick jokes.’”
Reynolds gave the writing team another shot over a lunch at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. As celebs like Ellen Degeneres and Amber Heard passed them by, Reynolds, Reese, and Wernick broke the story that would become the first “Deadpool.”
“At that moment, Ryan was like, ‘I want it to be an origin story.’ This is all stuff that was in the comics that we just brought up to the surface — with the cancer and the heartbreak,” said Wernick. “And it was essentially Ryan digging for more heart into the character. And he saw that heart in our HBO ‘Watch’ script, and that was the day that we got hired to write.”
Reynolds was so impressed, he vouched for Reese and Wernick with the studio following the meeting. Reese said of the events, “Ryan wrote this impassioned email to Fox saying after that lunch. ‘These are my guys. You don’t even need to hear the pitch. We’re going to figure it out, but these are my guys.’ And that was what set us down the path.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is in theaters now.
