Terminator: Dark Fatedirector Tim Miller got his start on big-budget action movies with his hitDeadpoolmovie starring Ryan Reynolds back in 2016. Miller quietly turned down the chance to helm the sequel and today we know why. It turns out that franchise star Ryan Reynolds wanted too much control overDeadpool 2. So Miller walked.
Specifically,Tim Millersays about his decision to leave theDeadpool 2director’s chair.
“It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise. You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can’t. I don’t mind having a debate, but if I can’t win, I don’t want to play. And I don’t think you can negotiate every creative decision, there’s too many to make. So Ryan’s the face of the franchise, and he was the most important component of that, by far. So if he decides he wants to control it, then he’s going to control it.”
Tim Miller continued on about theRyan Reynoldsissues.
“I’ve always been pretty good at the ‘moving on’ thing. I care deeply, and then you get to this point where you’ve gotta make a decision, and I’m pretty good about putting it in my rearview mirror. We had a meeting at Fox, and the writing was on the wall, so I said, ‘I get it. I’ll quit, and you guys can do what you need to do.'”
Personally, I think it’s a shame Miller didn’t directDeadpool 2if only for the fact that it was evidently his plan to includeThing from Fantastic Fourin the place of Colossus. That would have been classic. But as we all know by now, Miller was replaced onDeadpool 2with director David Leitch (John Wick,Atomic Blonde) and the rest is history. Well, not quite. Miller then moved on to take a crack at producer James Cameron’sThe TerminatorandTerminator 2: Judgment DayrevampingTerminator: Dark Fatewith Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton. And as we’ve all learned in the past few weeks, maybe that wasn’t such a great idea as the movie is bombing big-time at the box-office. And that’s too bad.
But now that both theDeadpoolandThe Terminatorfranchises are in Miller’s review mirror, what will the one-time visual effects artist and title sequence designer take on next? Well if word around the campfire is correct then Miller will be taking a shot at adapting William Gibson’s 1984 cyberpunk novelNeuromancerwith producer Simon Kinberg. But considering Miller’sTerminator: Dark Fateand Kinberg’sDark Pheonixrank as two of this year’sbiggest box-office bombs, I don’t know if thisNeuromancermovie will actually get a greenlight.
But Miller’s other projects include an adaptation of Daniel Suarez’s sci-fi novelInfluxso maybe that one will happen. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Maybe he’ll let bygones be bygones and take the helm ofDeadpool 3. You never know. Anyhow, these comments come from an interview director Tim Miller recently held onKCRW’s The Business podcast.
