In a new interview with The New York Times, Ryan Reynolds explained why he donated his salary and “let go of being paid” for 2016’s first Deadpool movie.
While it may seem unthinkable now, Reynolds wasn't one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars when Deadpool came out. He had headlined several big movies that never landed with critics or audiences; before Deadpool, his last major release was 2011’s The Green Lantern, one of the most notoriously derided superhero movies of all time. Around 2016, industry wisdom was that Reynolds had run out of chances to prove himself as a leading man.
“No part of me was thinking when Deadpool was finally greenlit that this would be a success,” Reynolds admitted to NYT.
No one expected the R-rated superhero movie starring an actor with an iffy box office track record to make any notable sum. But Reynolds believed so much in the film that he gave away the last of his paycheck to ensure they made the best movie possible.
“I even let go of getting paid to do the movie just to put it back on the screen: They wouldn’t allow my co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set, so I took the little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could form a de facto writers room,” Reynolds explained.
Reynolds believes that decision was instrumental in creating a film which audiences immediately latched onto.
“It was a lesson in a couple of senses,” he said. “I think one of the great enemies of creativity is too much time and money, and that movie had neither time nor money. It really fostered focusing on character over spectacle, which is a little harder to execute in a comic-book movie.”
The experience was so fulfilling that it changed the way Reynolds approached future projects. “I was just so invested in every micro-detail of it and I hadn’t felt like that in a long, long time. I remembered wanting to feel that more—not just on Deadpool, but on anything.”
Obviously, the plan worked. Deadpool grossed nearly $800 million globally and led to several sequels, including this summer’s hotly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine. More notably, the franchise completely rejuvenated Reynolds’ career, anointing him as one of the industry’s biggest stars.
“I mean, this character changed my whole life, it’s like the mother ship for me,” Reynolds said. “There was never a second where any one of us were ever on cruise control.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is in cinemas next Friday, July 26.
