Did Deadpool and Wolverine go too far? Ryan Reynolds speaks on the one joke that Disney’s Bob Iger asked him to cut from the Marvel film.
To many, Deadpool and Wolverine served as a lampooning of the sacred cow that was the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It seems that Ryan Reynolds and his team truly had no limits as to what they could say or do in the billion-dollar blockbuster. However, in reflecting on the project’s success, Reynolds reveal there was a line that Disney CEO Bob Iger personally requested be cut.
“There was only one line in the entire film that they asked me to take out. No. No. No! And they were right!” Reynolds explained at the Fast Company Innovation Festival. “As soon as somebody says something, like, ‘Ryan, Bob Iger here. Would love it if you’d take that one line out. It’s really going to make our life hard over here.’”
“As soon as they say that, there’s just something in my brain that goes, ‘Must keep line! Precious!’ And then as soon as the fog of war lifts and you have a second thought, it’s like, ‘Of course I can take that out. Can I say something about Pinocchio instead? And the answer is yes!”
Ryan Reynolds refused to actually reveal what line he had to cut from Deadpool and Wolverine. However, given the context of the Pinocchio line, it’s likely that his character was making some sort of crude comment about his sexual gratification. Given how family friendly Disney tries to make their IPs, especially ones with ties to their theme parks, it’s a mystery what could have crossed the line of the above joke was cleared by Bob Iger.
Marvel’s Helpful Advice To Ryan Reynolds
Yet it seems Disney wasn’t only there to critique Deadpool and Wolverine. While Bob Iger only commented on the line he wanted to cut, it seems Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige had some sage advice for Ryan Reynolds during production. And as a shock to no one, his advice was actually shockingly simple, even if it was incredibly hard to do in execution.
“He said something that sounds very pedantic and is probably not the thing to say out loud, but actually, weirdly, served as a creative engine. He was like, ‘Make every scene great.’ And I was like, ‘Thanks, Kev. Sounds good.'”
While Ryan Reynolds would wave off the advice at first, he admitted that Kevin Feige’s words “haunted him” during production. Yet it continually pushed him to make one of Deadpool and Wolverine one of Marvel’s greatest films. And while Bob Iger may have kept the film from being its whole, original vision, it’s likely that the film (and Reynolds relationship with Disney) is better for the joke being axed in the cutting room.
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