Deadpool 3 has started filming—and Ryan Reynolds isn’t allowed to improvise
Reynolds is a writer on the film, which means the rules of the WGA strike demand he stick to the film's existing script
Aux News Deadpool 3
An interesting conundrum for Ryan Reynolds and Marvel’s Deadpool 3 this week: Can you film a Deadpool movie without the famously ad-lib heavy Reynolds being allowed to improvise on set?
See, Deadpool 3 started filming this week, amidst the ongoing WGA writer’s strike. And while the rules say that actors can improvise lines on films during the strike, the rules about writers being allowed to write lines for a production right now are a lot more strict. And Reynolds is, indeed, officially a writer on Deadpool 3, having previously picked up a writing credit on Deadpool 2—basically on the strength of how much of his own dialogue he improvises. Which means that, at least hypothetically, any deviations from the movie’s script by him could constitute strike-breaking under the rules of the Guild. If he gets reported, he could hypothetically try to argue that he’s only fulfilling his roles on the film as an actor or producer—although multi-hyphenate writer-producers have been specifically asked not to do anything even remotely writer-ly on their projects right now—but that “written by” credit is going to be a tricky obstacle to get around.
So, we gotta ask: What does a Deadpool movie even sound like without Reynolds’ motor-mouthed riffing? Damned if we know. As it happens, the character’s very first cinematic appearance was filmed during the last writers strike, back in 2007; Reynolds has said that he improvised all of Deadpool’s dialogue for X-Men Origins: Wolverine himself, and that’s apparently been the tradition since.
It’s an open question, at the moment, of which projects are choosing to film right now, as the strike moves into its second week; TV has been a decidedly mixed bag, with some shows—often those closer to easily organized picket lines—shutting down, while others have chosen to work with existing scripts and without writers on set. Relatively few films have been affected yet (although Marvel was weirdly quick to delay the Blade movie yet again). Deadpool 3 is one of the first big studio features to go into production amidst the strike; as is, it sounds like the Merc With The Mouth is going to have to be the Killer With The Clearly Demarcated Lines Between Writer And Actor, at least for the foreseeable future.
12 Comments
Nothing a little dubbing in post after the strike couldn’t fix…
Yeah, I was gonna say… er? Deadpool mask? ADR later?
Every scene will include several shots of Deadpool turning to stare at the camera for several seconds, or just standing motionless, to make room for dubs later. Reynolds may actually ad-lib something on set, but that will get overdubbed in post just to be safe.
The entire film will just be Reynolds doing a lot of “peas and carrots” fake speaking on camera and then ADR’ed in post (post-strike).
They could probably solve two problems at once by just cancelling this and the new Blade movie, and rereleasing Blade: Trinity
Deadpool (Reynolds) make fun about Green Lantern, Wolverine Origin, but Deadpool ever make fun of Blade: Trinity? Cause he should get Wesley Snipes AND Jennifer Biel as cameo. Better if he can get IRS & Justin Timberlake as butt of the jokes.
I feel like “future hard Jeopardy question” Jessica Biel would be in on the joke. And would find it fitting that you forgot her name.
Do you think the script has lines written for him? Or do they just put “Ryan does his thing” and assume he’ll fill the gap ten times over?Hopefully not the latter.
Just a whole buncha jokes about looking like a nutsack, punctuated with the occasional “Shazbutt”.
This is the perfect solution for Hollywood. Ad libbed movies where nothing is “written.”
I recently re-watched “District 9″ for the first time (I think) since seeing it in the theater, and I’d forgotten that the dialogue in that movie was largely ad-libbed as well. It worked there!
Deadpool is, essentially, a human scab, so…