Were We Lied to About Why Tim Miller Left 'Deadpool 2'?

Were we lied to about why Tim Miller left Deadpool 2? When the director left the smash hit franchise, fans were left scratching their heads. The first reports said that he left because of differences with the film’s star, Ryan Reynolds, over the direction of the sequel. According to the report, Miller wanted the film to be a big budget spectacle and Reynolds just wanted to keep the film in the same vein of the first movie. Most of the world just accepted this difference of opinion.

Deadpool, Twentieth Century Fox — Image: Twentieth Century Fox

In an interview this week, Reynolds and producer Simon Kinberg talked about what we can expect from Deadpool 2. They say that the film isn’t going to be bigger than the first. They want to make a smaller movie. The funny thing about this is that in his first interview since departing Deadpool 2, Tim Miller said that he wanted to do the very same thing with DP2. Upon Miller’s departure, David Leitch (John Wick) was brought on because he knew how to stretch a budget.

In Miller’s interview, he told Chaos Group that he wanted to do a smaller film, not a bigger blockbuster for the sequel:

I haven’t talked since Deadpool 2, I stepped off the movie. I just want to say one thing to our geek audience out there, because it’s important to me what the geeks and nerds of the world think, because they are my brothers and sisters.

I didn’t want to make some stylized movie that was three times the budget, and if you read the internet – and who cares, really – but for those of you who do, I wanted to make the same kind of movie that we made before, because I think that’s the right kind of movie to make for the character. So, don’t believe what you read on the Internet.

Deadpool and Cable, Marvel — A frame from the ‘Deadpool and Cable’ comic book, by Rob Leifeld. Image:

If both sides of this dispute were shooting for the same thing, what really happened that caused Miller to leave? A few rumors say that Miller and Reynolds were at odds over who was going to be cast as Cable. The rumors said that Miller wanted Kyle Chandler as Cable, whereas Reynolds didn’t. According to Miller, this wasn’t the case at all:

Kyle Chandler was not going to be Cable. All these things that you read kinda kills me, even when people go, “The movie was really hard to make.” The movie was a joy to make. I think you see it on-screen, we all had such a good time. We had a few arguments in post, but nothing more than usual. The crew was so great, everybody was going to come back, and we were going to have such a good time. The idea that it was a difficult movie, it wasn’t—it was a joy, and it was the best experience of my life.

Deadpool, Marvel, 20th Century Fox — ‘Deadpool’ is crushing box office competition. Image: 20th Century Fox

Although things ended badly, Miller doesn’t hold a grudge:

I wish them nothing but good — I hope it’s great. I hope it’s a great movie. Because I love the character and I think it’s great, and I love all the actors and I want to see them successful again. I haven’t met David, but he’s a great guy from everything I’ve heard. I want nothing but the best for the character. And for Fox, too. They deserve to make more money. They need to make more money [laughs]. They were great. They were terrific.