As Fox continues planning the future of the X-Men movies, their most lucrative property hit a snag: Tim Miller left his post as director of Deadpool 2 after reports cited creative differences between him and star/producer Ryan Reynolds. The actor has since commented on the departure, but his tale of the journey to bring the first film to the screen may also confirm some of these reports.

“All I can really add is that I'm sad to see him off the film,” Reynolds told GQ during an interview. “Tim's brilliant and nobody worked harder on Deadpool than he did.”

This is a very diplomatic answer, though Miller did seem to leave on good terms: he’s still with Fox and is planning on helming the adaptation of the sci-fi novel Influx. However, various reports claimed Miller and Reynolds had dueling ideas about the Deadpool sequel, causing Miller to depart from the project.

neuromancer-movie-tim-miller
Image via 20th Century Fox

Other comments in Reynolds’ interview about the process of getting the film greenlit offer more evidence to the growing tension between the pair. While he doesn’t name names, the actor said of Deadpool:

Making the movie was very, very difficult. It was the most passionate group of individuals I’ve ever worked with in my life. And for whatever reason, that mercurial crazy burgoo of people is what made this thing work so well, not just because I had this vision and I saw it this way and it had to be this way. It worked because we all had that feeling. But there were vaguely scary fights in the post-production process that escalated quickly. Luckily, everybody’s grown up and at the end of the day enjoys and loves each other.

He then explained his stance on the matter:

I know when I need to exert control, and I know when I need to let go of it. I’m not gonna go and sit with Tim Miller and say, ‘The visual effects of Deadpool need to be done this way.’ The man is a visual-effects wizard. But there are character and tone things that I know really well. And I’ve also been with this thing the longest out of anybody, aside from the guys that wrote the comics. Eleven years I’ve been trying to get this Sisyphus rock up the hill, and it kept rolling back on top of me. So I’m gonna be all the fuck over it from the moment it starts to the moment it finishes.

Fox is still looking to replace Miller, though it seems like John Wick’s David Leitch will probably be the choice. With Cable already announced for Deadpool 2, there are reports of Deadpool 3 bringing in X-Force. So, despite all the craziness that went on behind the scenes, the Merc With the Mouth isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

deadpool-colossus
Image via 20th Century Fox
deadpool-brianna-hildebrand-ryan-reynolds-colossus
Image via 20th Century Fox
deadpool-ryan-reynolds-image
Image via 20th Century Fox