Actor Ryan Reynolds has had quite the year. After realizing his 11-year dream with the release of Deadpool, the comedic superhero outing became the highest grossing R-Rated film of all time. Now Reynolds has been named GQ’s 2016 Man of the Year.
Reynolds has stayed out of the spotlight since the news of director Tim Miller’s exit from Deadpool 2 broke. Inside sources cited the reason for his exit as creative differences, suggesting that Reynolds clashed with the director on his choice for the casting of Cable with actor Kyle Chandler. Reynolds wasn’t having it leading it to the departure of Miller from the sequel.
In an interview with GQ, Reynolds offered a very classy reaction to the unfortunate loss of Miller:
All I can really add is that I’m sad to see him off the film. Tim’s brilliant and nobody worked harder on Deadpool than he did.
But when discussing the challenges of the filmmaking process behind Deadpool, Reynolds offered further insight for what may have contributed to Miller’s exit from the sequel.
Making the movie was very, very difficult. It was the most passionate group of individuals I’ve ever worked with in my life. And for whatever reason, that mercurial crazy burgoo of people is what made this thing work so well, not just because I had this vision and I saw it this way and it had to be this way. It worked because we all had that feeling. But there were vaguely scary fights in the post-production process that escalated quickly. Luckily, everybody’s grown up and at the end of the day enjoys and loves each other.I know when I need to exert control, and I know when I need to let go of it. I’m not gonna go and sit with Tim Miller and say, “The visual effects of Deadpool need to be done this way.” The man is a visual-effects wizard. But there are character and tone things that I know really well. And I’ve also been with this thing the longest out of anybody, aside from the guys that wrote the comics. Eleven years I’ve been trying to get this Sisyphus rock up the hill, and it kept rolling back on top of me. So I’m gonna be all the fuck over it from the moment it starts to the moment it finishes.

Fox has yet to sign a new director to helm the next outing with Deadpool but that isn’t stopping them from moving full steam ahead on development of the franchise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, if all goes well, the X-Force team will be featured alongside the merc with a mouth in the inevitable Deadpool 3.
Mashable reported John Wick Co-director David Leich is currently at the top of a shortlist as the frontrunner to helm Deadpool 2 along with Drew Goddard (The Cabin in the Woods) and television director Magnus Martens (Agents of Shield, Luke Cage).
Leich already has a history with Fox and Wade Wilson as he was the action coordinator on X-Men Origins: Wolverine, as well as the second unit director for The Wolverine, so it would make sense for Leich to land the gig being that he presents the least amount of risk for the studio.
Deadpool 2 is currently slated for a January 12, 2018 release date but it seems likely it’s going to be pushed back by a few months. The production was set to get underway in early 2018 but until a director is signed, things will remain up in the air.
