How Ryan Reynolds turned Deadpool into a huge success
A masterclass on influence
Today: How Ryan Reynolds used persuasion to turn Deadpool into a billion-dollar franchise.
I originally published this text in Spanish some months ago. Thanks to Ana Fer for helping me with the translation!
👋 Hey, it’s Andrés. Welcome to Astrolab’s weekly newsletter on how to become a better communicator at work. We write for knowledge workers and business owners.
Don't accept “no” for an answer
In late July of 2024, actors Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds appeared interviewing each other on Jimmy Kimmel's show following the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, the third film in the franchise.
At one point in the interview, Jackman asks Reynolds a question about the name of the film. “I’ve been on four hundred interviews with you, but I’ve never heard you talk about the first name of the movie.”
The movie was originally called Deadpool & Friend, Reynolds answered. The day before we released the first trailer, the title of the movie leaked online. We watched and listened, and we realized that people f***** hated that title.
Reynolds and Shawn Levy, the film’s director, contacted Disney and Marvel with a request: change the name.
No way, they replied. “The trailer comes out tomorrow. We already sent out nine thousand stands to put up in theaters that say Deadpool & Friend.”
Reynolds and Levy's reaction? They refused to take no for an answer.
Disney and Marvel had been doing this to us all throughout production. Every time we asked for something, they would say no (…). We had to push for everything, so we got used to not accepting no. We told them that the title of the film was going to change… and in the end they agreed.
This story serves as an introduction to this text on Ryan Reynold’s ability to influence others.
Reynolds has had several business successes – a manufacturing company, a gin brand, a Scottish soccer team, a mobile phone company, and investments in fintech. In each venture, he follows a formula:
He comes up with a vision,
He builds relationships that can help sell that vision, and
He works heavily on the storytelling around the vision
In this post, we’ll focus on how Reynolds leveraged these three skills to make the Deadpool franchise a success.
Audience 1: 20th Century Fox
The origin of the first Deadpool movie is fascinating. Here’s a summary of two decades of history:
Deadpool is a character who first appeared in a Marvel comic in 1990, and was associated with the X-Men from the beginning. In 1994, 20th Century Fox bought the film rights to X-Men.
In a 2004 comic, Deadpool is shown saying that he looks like a cross between Ryan Reynolds and a shar-pei. Around that time, Reynolds read that comic and said that he would like to interpret the role of Deadpool at some point.
In 2009, Reynolds portrayed a non-canon version of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, where he fought Jackman’s Wolverine.
Shortly after, Fox hired writers to draft a Deadpool script with Reynolds, but studio executives resisted. Deadpool’s humor, violence, and fourth-wall-breaking style clashed with Fox’s norms.
“We had to rewrite the script like six hundred times,” Reynolds told the WSJ in 2021.
After much persuasion, Fox allowed a two-minute test reel, which sat in archives for two years. Then, someone leaked it. The video went viral.
Thanks to that response, Fox approved the film the next day. Fun fact: When asked by Graham Norton, “Were you the one who leaked it?” Reynolds swore that it wasn’t him, but someone else who worked at the studio.
Deadpool (2016) had a $58 million budget and grossed $782 million. Recognizing its success, Reynolds and his team began work on Deadpool 2 (2018).
Audience 2: Friends
Fox’s limited budget for the first film forced Reynolds to get creative. To promote Deadpool 2, he leaned on storytelling and viral content.
He also did a great job of leveraging celebrity, managing to appear as Deadpool alongside David Beckham, Celine Dion, and Stephen Colbert.
Reynolds and Jackman, who first met in 2009, began a playful rivalry that became increasingly public. From early on, Reynolds expressed a desire to see Deadpool and Wolverine share the screen, reflecting their complex relationship in the comics.
Jackman had been firm that Logan would be his final outing as Wolverine. However, after Disney acquired Fox in 2019, the door opened for X-Men and Deadpool to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In 2022, Jackman had a change of heart. During a phone call with his agent, he decided: “I want to return as Wolverine, this time in a Deadpool movie.”
The actor parked and dialed Reynolds:
I want to go back.
With Wolverine in the story, Reynolds had to convince Disney and Marvel to make Deadpool 3, a film that would most likely receive an R rating.
Would Disney be ready for something like this?
Audience 3: Disney
Reynolds, thrilled by Jackman’s decision, called Levy to share the news. Together, they set up a Zoom meeting with Marvel president Kevin Feige and his team.
There, in that Zoom, we came up with the central story of Deadpool & Wolverine, which we eventually used. Sometimes, when you’re full of shit, and you let yourself go, you end up hitting the mark.
As the reporter in the WSJ article wrote: The benefit of developing a character for more than a decade is clarity of vision. It is okay to improvise, as long as you have a good grasp of the topic, project, idea or change you want to propose.
Disney's response? Go ahead with the movie. Disney had caved and authorized the production of an R-rated Marvel movie. Reynolds closes:
This gave us a lot of freedom, it let us do a lot of things.
By refusing to accept Disney's multiple no's from Marvel, Reynolds and his team were able to turn their vision for Deadpool & Wolverine into reality, and in doing so, turned it into another hit: to date, it has grossed $1.4 billion, making it the highest-grossing R-rated film in history.
Epilogue: My job is storytelling
At the beginning of this article, we talked about how Reynolds has had many business successes.
At the start of this article, we mentioned Reynolds’ many business ventures. Last year, during an interview about a fintech investment, Reynolds was asked about his knowledge on that matter.
Are you a fintech person?
Reynolds' response?
I don’t know anything about fintech. Thank God I don’t run the company. My job is storytelling.
What a perfect way to end this article.
Briefs
New Program: Last semester, we had a revelation. If INSPIRA was about storytelling, relationships and influence, there should be another Astrolab learning experience offering focused on clarity, brevity and precision. We’re testing this new workshop, and it’s looking good. Stay tuned for our first public cohort!
New Projects: Astrolab is starting strong this 2025. We have a packed schedule these next months, mostly with CPG companies, both in the US and Mexico. We’ll drop pictures of our workshops soon!
New Webpage: Check it out!
That’s all for today. See you next Thursday!
Andrés