Deadpool Creator Rob Liefeld Calls Out Film Executive That Tried To Keep Deadpool Down

Deadpool had to jump through a few hoops to get made, and creator Rob Liefeld spotlights one [...]

Deadpool had to jump through a few hoops to get made, and creator Rob Liefeld spotlights one particular name at 20th Century Fox that posed the largest obstacle.

Liefeld has always been open about the behind the scenes work that went into getting Deadpool made, but in a recent interview with Variety, he pinpoints what the biggest wall happened to be in making the film a reality, who is no longer with 20th Century Fox.

"I'll jump on the sword. I don't really work in the movie business, so I've always been able to navigate and speak freely. The answer is two words: Tom Rothman," Liefeld said. "He is now the [chairman] of Sony. I wish him well. He's a canny operator in the business. But when he gets it in his mind to dismiss something — nothing seemed to push him over the edge. I thought for sure [he would be on board] when he saw how good Deadpool looked and moved [in the test footage], but for whatever reason, we had an opponent to the film."

In many ways, Guardians of the Galaxy would change things, along with former Fox chief Jim Gianopulos, who ultimately greenlit the film.

"I cried like a baby, and it wasn't just for me. It was for Tim [Miller] and Ryan [Reynolds] and Rhett [Reese]. The script you saw in 2016 was written in 2010," Miller said.

Liefeld also remembers an early meeting he had with Paramount, who thought the bubble for Superhero films was on the verge of puttering out.

"I was sitting with the president of Paramount, John Goldwyn is his name," Liefeld remembers. "He had sought me out in the early 2000s. He liked 'Youngblood.' He whipped out a chart. I could not believe it. 'Rob, we've done some internal examining of this superhero trend that's going on right now.' By that time you had one 'Spider-Man' movie and maybe two 'X-Mens.' And he said, 'We believe this is a bell curve and we believe this bell curve is going to end, and we believe, by our estimates, we would be in the middle of making our movie, in the best case scenario, and the bell curve would be over, and we would be left holding the bag.' That is such a rich memory for me because I remember going, 'He is 100% wrong.'"

Ryan Reynolds stars as Deadpool, and is joined by Josh Brolin (Cable), Zazie Beetz (Domino), Stefan Kapicic (Colossus), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa) Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Karan Soni (Dopinder), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al) T.J. Miller (Weasel), Terry Crews (Bedlam), Julian Dennison (Russell/Firefist), Lewis Tan (Shatterstar), Bill Skarsgard (Zeitgeist), and Shioli Kutsuna (Surge).

Deadpool 2 is in theaters now, while X-Men: Dark Phoenix lands in theaters on February 14, 2019. The New Mutants is slated to hit theaters on August 2, 2019.

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