With Deadpool set to make $150 million at the box office this long weekend, it seems almost laughable that Fox was ever disinclined to make it in the first place.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, however, director Tim Miller spoke at length about the process he and star Ryan Reynolds went through to try and get the movie into development.
"I wrote an email once a month or so to Fox executives, saying, 'Please tell me who I have to fuck to get this going,'" Miller said. "And the answer was, 'It's not the right time, we appreciate your passion.'"
Miller said originally Fox had shown some interest in producing the movie, but but only if they could make it for between $40 million and $50 million.
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As time went on, Miller said the project seemed less and less likely to happen. Reynolds' Green Lantern flopped, reducing his star potential. Not to mention that Deadpool would be Miller's first film, and it was a large movie to give to a director who didn't have a substantial body of work.
Miller, however, was determined to get the movie made and started to email Fox executives constantly, bartering with them over different ways they could get it done. At one point, Miller even offered to forgo the R rating he had fought so hard for, allowing Fox to promote the film to a much broader audience.
Still, the studio wouldn't budge on its decision — until, of course, the test footage leaked during San Diego Comic-Con 2014. Miller told Entertainment Weekly that he had been traveling when it was leaked, and was horrified to find out that it had once he was back home.
It was because of the internet's reaction to the leaked test footage that Fox decided to go ahead and give the movie the green light.
Reynolds and Miller still swear they have no idea who leaked the footage.