When Deadpool director Tim Miller chose not to return for a sequel to the hit superhero film, it caught a lot of people by surprise. That is until we began learning about creative conflicts with star Ryan Reynolds, then it started to make some sense. While some of the reports have been refuted by Miller in the past, one thing he's straight-up about is who is to blame for his departure: Ryan Reynolds.
In an interview on KCRW The Business, Miller blames Reynolds' need for complete creative as the reason he left...
“It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise,” Miller said. You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can’t. I don’t mind having a debate, but if I can’t win, I don’t want to play. And I don’t think you can negotiate every creative decision, there’s too many to make. So Ryan’s the face of the franchise, and he was the most important component of that, by far. So if he decides he wants to control it, then he’s going to control it.”
“I’ve always been pretty good at the ‘moving on’ thing. I care deeply, and then you get to this point where you’ve gotta make a decision, and I’m pretty good about putting it in my rearview mirror. We had a meeting at Fox, and the writing was on the wall, so I said, ‘I get it. I’ll quit, and you guys can do what you need to do.”
I think a lot of people would say Deadpool 2, despite the massive box office that made it the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever for a while, wasn't as good as Miller's film. The story may have been bigger, but it lacked a director who knew when to tone down Reynolds' worst impulses. It's still a great film, but often excessive when subtlety was required. David Leitch isn't a director known for nuance.
So I don't blame Miller here. Deadpool was his first feature film and he didn't want to establish that he's a director willing to roll over. It's unfortunate that we didn't get to see what he would've done with the Fantastic Four, but maybe Marvel will give him a call whenever they arrive in the MCU.
