Ryan Reynolds has explained why the shrinking budget for Deadpool ended up being a silver lining to the blockbuster.
After the failure of Reynold’s Green Lantern, Fox was a bit wary of another superhero movie. But they greenlight the project anyway with an $ 8 million budget cut.
Even with that, they created history and Reynold was proud of his accomplishments along with the team. Emphasizing the importance of character in Deadpool, Reynolds said:
“Every time the studio took money away from our budget, we replaced whatever set piece we lost with character. Eventually that became the hallmark and defining characteristic of that property. People don’t remember saving-the-world kind of nonsense. They remember what he said, or how he reacted to a moment. To me, that lesson is worth its weight in gold, because you can penetrate the zeitgeist and make an impression without spending a ton of money, without busting the bank.”
Reynolds is well aware that a huge budget does not necessarily equate to a hit film after his lesson with Green Lantern. With its $200 million budget and extensive use of visual effects, the movie took itself very seriously. Unfortunately, audiences didn’t feel the same.
He also experienced the success with much smaller budget of $2 million and gained $21 million with Buried (2010). The experiences he had contributes to his growth as an actor and filmmaker.
Deadpool, with its R-rated, fourth-wall-breaking antics and a relatively small budget only helped forge some new ground in a genre that’s never been particularly fond of change, but it also transformed Reynolds’ career in a big way.
With massive gains in followers of his career, fans are excited to see what more can this actor brings to the big screen.