Ever since the movie was officially greenlit, fans were hoping that we’d get an R-rated take on Deadpool – but in this current family-friendly superhero movie climate, it always seemed unlikely. After trolling us all for a while though, Ryan Reynolds finally announced that his return to the screen as Wade Wilson would be appropriately drenched in foul-mouthed, gory glory.
The studio definitely took a chance on the film, but it was one that ultimately paid dividends, as Deadpool went on to become one of the most successful R-rated pictures of all-time. It seems that Fox were not always that confident in a more adult orientated adaptation, though.
In a new interview with Den of Geek, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick reveal that the studio did ask them to come up with a PG-13 version… just in case.
“We did it,” Reese admits. “We sold our soul for a few minutes [laughs]. But interestingly the PG-13 version is not that different from the R version. The language is reduced, the sexual content is reduced, but most of the action and the structure of the movie and the scenes were all the same. It was up to Fox to look at it and decided ‘should we make this?’ and thankfully – thankfully only in retrospect – they didn’t. It allowed us to circle back with the support of Simon Kinberg a couple of years later and convince them that R was always the best way to go.”
Deadpool is currently available on Blu-ray and DVD.
