Has Rob Liefeld Seen 8 Minutes of Test Footage for an R-Rated Deadpool Film?

As of late there hasn’t been much talk of a Deadpool movie from FOX. In fact, the last I remember hearing anything about this proposed film was back around April of last year when it was rumored that Tim Miller was attached to direct (a rumor I can’t recall ever being confirmed, but according to IMDB seems to be), and there is a script floating around.

However, at the Amazing Arizona Comic Con which took place over the weekend of January 6-8, Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld brought this film back into the news with this little tidbit:

They’ve got a great director on the movie, they’ve got a great script. I may or may have not seen some sort of test of footage that would blow your mind if you saw it and go holy crap and that’s Deadpool in costume. Katana swords, guns, shooting people’s faces off and making me laugh. And I may or may not have seen something that looks just like that. And you’ve got what would amount to the first R Rated X-Men movie. Because that script is R Rated.

They may or may not have wanted to shoot eight minutes to see how it would play. And all I can tell you, it’s close. It’s closer that it’s even been to going, or going Naaah, that’s too scary a proposition to make a R Rated Deadpool movie.

[Bleeding Cool]

So has FOX at least shot some test footage for a Deadpool movie? Sounds like a definite “maybe”. I’d imagine that Liefeld has some sort of inside information on a character he co-created and would have a stake in this film being made – and made well.

There are still a lot of questions left unanswered though. Ryan Reynolds who portrayed a bastardized version of the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine has been attached to this film since day one, but is currently working on R.I.P.D. and then may have not one, but twoGreen Lantern sequels to film (despite awful reviews and a poor box office performance), so where would he find the time to do a Deadpool movie? Also, would FOX actually be willing to do an R-Rated Marvel film? Obviously fans of the character know that the only way to do this character justice is with a violent, funny movie with an R-Rating, but would John Q Public flock to an R-Rated superhero flick when their only exposure to the character thus far has been the version in the PG-13 rated X-Men Origins film?

Personally, I want to see at least a good attempt at a Deadpool film, completely disregarding the character from the Wolverine movie, and there has been some talk that thisversion of Deadpool would have no relation to the one that appeared in the previous film*. Ryan Reynolds would make a good fit for this character, as we saw briefly in X-Men Originswhen he was just Wade Wilson, pre-transformation (and even as his turn as witty vampire hunter Hannibal King in Blade Trinity), but if his schedule is just too busy perhaps there’s an unknown actor out there who could fill the Merc-With-A-Mouth’s shoes just as well. In the interest of full disclosure, Deadpool is my favorite character in the Marvel Universe, so perhaps this is all just fanboy wishful thinking that a proper Deadpool film will ever get made.

*Fun Fact: There was an older story regarding the script to this Deadpool film in which he breaks the fourth-wall regarding X-Men Origins: Wolverine andhis displeasure of the portrayal of himself in the film. I hope this would actually make it into the film, classic fourth-wall breaking humor Deadpool is known for.