When Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick earned a surprise WGA Awards nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (which also places them in serious contention for an Oscar nod), we knew that we had to get them on The B-Movies Podcast to talk about the hype, and really analyze the living hell out of that screenplay. And in addition to our talk about superhero masturbation scenes and what may very well be a big plot hole in the movie, we learned a couple of exciting things about Deadpool and what is (or isn’t) coming up in Deadpool 2.
To start with, did you ever notice that Deadpool and Colossus have a pre-existing relationship in Deadpool but we never actually find out how they met? That scene was in the screenplay, it didn’t make it to the screen, and it was no joke.
“Deadpool committed suicide, right?” Rhett Reese says in our podcast interview.
“He was trying to commit suicide,“ Paul Wernick corrects him.
“Trying to commit suicide, jumped off a building, splatted on the ground. And who came to try to convince him to sign up and try to become an X-Man but Colossus?” Reese continues. “And that was the first time they met. It was in the script.”
“In a flashback,“ Paul Wernick adds.
As Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick try to remember why the scene was taken out, our hosts William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold ask whether the reason might have been that it was just too depressing. But apparently not.
“In the moment it was played seriously but then he woke up, there was a rat nibbling on his toe and that’s what woke him up in some alley,“ Rhett Reese explains. “And he said to the rat, ‘Not now, Uncle Kevin!’ That was the line. So it was played for comedy but then all of a sudden these big steel boots come into the frame and it’s Colossus and he’s like, ‘You’re a man in need.’”
“He was rescuing [Deadpool],” Paul Wernick continues.
“He was trying to rescue him, and of course Deadpool refused the rescue,” Rhett Reese adds.
20th Century Fox
Also: The ‘Deadpool’ Writers Do The B-Movies Podcast!
Later on the episode, the topic of Deadpool 2 of course came up. In addition to our talk about whether Vanessa will have superpowers next time, and we also asked one of the burning questions on any serious Deadpool fan’s mind: Is there any chance that Deadpool 2 will be more Hydra Bob-centric?
(For those who don’t know, Hydra Bob is a supporting character from the Deadpool comic books, a friend and associate of the hero who happens to work for the evil organization called Hydra. Towards the end of the Deadpool movie, the Merc with a Mouth stops mid-fight, recognizes a guy named “Bob” and they stop for a moment to catch up a bit.)
“No. I don’t think so,“ Rhett Reese says. “Hydra Bob might make an appearance [but] we’re not even allowed to call him Hydra Bob.”
“No, because Fox doesn’t know Hydra Bob,” Paul Wernick explains.
“We don’t have the rights. He’s just Bob,” Rhett Reese clarifies further, before eventually adding “It’s not a coincidence that we didn’t kill Bob in that moment. He just knocks him out, I think the thinking being that maybe it would be fun if Bob comes back at some point.”
Don’t get too excited though. Paul Wernick immediately checks in with his co-writer, asking “Bob’s not right now coming back, is he?”
“Not currently,“ Rhett Reese concludes. “But you never know.”
You can listen to the entire hour-long interview with Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on The B-Movies Podcast right now, for more information about the X-Men franchise, plot holes and missing scenes, plans for an Oscar campaign and more!
Top Photo: 20th Century Fox
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and Canceled Too Soon, and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved, Rapid Reviews and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
