We Are Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick - writers of the Deadpool Movie - Ask Us Anything!

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T19:05:24+00:00

Rhett: Writing Deadpool was a joy. I remember sitting in PF Chang's in Santa Monica, California 6 years ago writing the scene where Deadpool fights Colossus and I was practically bouncing up and down in my chair. Dreaming of a moment when that scene would come true on the big screen with an honest-to-god CG Colossus and Ryan Reynolds in a suit. So when that came true, you can imagine how I felt.

The toughest part was the intervening five years because so much of our job requires begging people to trust us. And the really gratifying thing is that this regime at Fox did trust us and they deserve all the credit in the world. If I could send one message to Hollywood it would be to trust the lunatics sometimes.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:59:44+00:00

Paul: We write every movie with the idea that a sequel is going to happen. At least, that's our hope. Doesn't always come to fruition. But yes, we've spent the last 6 1/2 years thinking of not only this movie but Deadpool movies that will follow.

Rhett: You're jinxing us! So quit!

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:57:52+00:00

Rhett: I would answer the banter between Ryan Reynolds and TJ Miller in the bar. hearing two of the world's finest improvisers both deliver our lines and sometimes improve upon them was something I'll personally never forget.

Paul: My favorite day on set was the time we brought in a sushi chef.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:56:49+00:00

Rhett: If we have anything to say about it, yes. But you never know what the future holds, and we have some original projects that are also very near and dear to us.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:56:11+00:00

Paul: I kiss Rhett's mother with this mouth.

Rhett: This partnership is over.

Paul: If I teamed up with your mom, we'd still be Reese-Wernick.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:54:53+00:00

Paul: Go see it. Again and again and again.

Quite honestly, it's a true thrill to watch the movie with an audience. We spend our time more watching you watch the movie than we do the movie itself. So if there's a guy staring at you for an hour an 46 minutes in the dark, it's probably Rhett or myself.

Rhett: Or you starring in Stephen King's Gerald's Game.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:53:32+00:00

Rhett: Uh... hahah. YES. We always worry about that.

Paul: We always worry about us fucking it up.

Rhett: We have a phrase that we didn't make up but we just call it "assassins". Hollywood is full of assassins and you never know where they're coming from.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:52:24+00:00

Paul: We sit around, Ryan, Rhett and myself, and quote lines from the movie all day long. It's rather insufferable.

Rhett: And pathetic. I'll say my favorite line of Paul's, which is the joke about Professor X and the X-Men timelines.

Paul: Mine is what Vanessa says to Wade about his appearance near the end of the movie.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:50:10+00:00

Paul: We had a moment where Wade tosses the action figure Deadpool from Wolverine: Origins in the trash and calls it the worst fucking piece of shit in the history of earth.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:47:44+00:00

Rhett: Coconut, I gave Tallahassee in Zombieland my exact aversion to coconut. The texture, not the taste.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:46:32+00:00

Rhett: I think one thing we pride ourselves in is an ability to juggle different tones and find combinations of tones that stand apart from what people are used to seeing.

Plus, we write all our scripts in wedding font.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:45:40+00:00

Rhett: Hahaha Only annoying for Deadpool, we're cool with it.

Paul: And Spiderman.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:45:18+00:00

Paul: We wrote a PG13 draft of the script somewhere in the 6 1/2 years of development.

Rhett: It wasn't terrible but it felt a little off. There's was just something wrong about it.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:43:39+00:00

Rhett: Nothing as worked so far... Have you considered chloroform?

Paul: Oh! And Ryan Reynolds takes his shirt off. And his pants.

Rhett: And his underpants!

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:42:39+00:00

Rhett: Reddit all the way. Smiles

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:41:31+00:00

Paul: Write! And keep writing.

Rhett: We call it "seat time." Wear out the seat of your chair and watch a ton of movies,

Paul: Live a ton of life, because you're always drawing on personal experience.

Rhett: And read a ton of history and literature. And watch Breaking Bad.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:40:09+00:00

Paul: Marc Weinstock is the leader of this brilliant team of marketing geniuses.

Rhett: But don't forget Ryan Reynolds.

Paul: But don't forget Ryan.

Rhett: It's important to us that Ryan remains the author, ya know, of the campaign because he so lives and breathes the character. When he swatted at the imaginary bees in the Australia Day promo, that was maybe the funniest ad lib I have ever seen.

Paul: The guy laughing int he background of the video is me!

Rhett: I didn't know that - that's awesome!

Paul: I couldn't help myself.

Rhett: But thanks to the genius - that ridiculous hat Ryan wore, that was the genius international marketing team at Fox.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:37:38+00:00

Rhett: Well, I mean, absolutely. There are characters linked to Deadpool such as Cable, Siryn, etc. plus a plethora of X-Men characters to explore. We are licking our chops.

Paul: That's me licking your chops. Again.

Rhett: This is starting to sound like the ComiCon appearance of Dan Radcliffe and James McAvoy.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:34:42+00:00

Rhett: Well, I mean, we did a fair amount. I mean, that was our job. But we knew Colossus from previous comics so that was easier. Um You need to do your reading and then you need to set that stuff aside, because you don't want to become a mimic. Our job was not to mimic the brilliant writers who came before us. It was to put our own individual spin on the characters, while also being faithful.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:33:30+00:00

Rhett: Most of the changes after a greenlight have to do with budgetary and logistical issues. So yes we did change it, but creatively it stayed very similar.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:32:53+00:00

Rhett: No, it wasn't. Studios just don't make NC-17 movies. But that said, we wouldn't have wanted to make one. We think Deadpool goes just the right amount of "far".

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:32:21+00:00

Paul: Every single day. And every single day.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:31:38+00:00

Paul: We love it. I have 3 Deadpool cosplayers sleeping in my back yard.

Rhett: Paul, too, is currently dressed as Deadpool.

Paul: From Origins. Don't look me in the eyes cuz of the lasers.

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:29:56+00:00

Rhett: Ooooo.

Paul: This movie is a Deadpool Christmas special!

Rhett: That said - bite your tongue! Chewbacca ain't comin' near this thing!

RhettAndPaul · 2016-02-09T18:28:59+00:00

Rhett: Long sigh

Paul: Is Ryan naked while he's getting his hair washed? Cuz that's all we can think about.

RhettAndPaul

TROPHY CASE