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20th Century Fox finally confirmed that Deadpool 2 is indeed moving forward last week, with director Tim Miller back in the director's chair and the entire creative team intact. But that was about all we got in terms of news on the sequel, though luckily Collider's own Steve Weintraub recently sat down with Deadpool director Tim Miller for an exclusive interview, during which the Deadpool sequel (and its predecessor) was discussed at length:

“I’m going to do Deadpool 2. Barring an unforeseen accident, I will be doing Deadpool 2.”

Getting Miller to actually reveal anything specific regarding Deadpool 2 was a bit more difficult, and that’s because they’re still working on the script:

“The writers have been working on the script…The script comes first. You’ve got to get that.”

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However, if you’re worried that this is going to be a rushed product and that Fox is making him work under pressure so they can get it by a predetermined release date, Miller seems pretty happy with the current timetable:


“None of the times that have been under discussion have made me go, ‘Oh no, you’re going to make me do something horrible just to meet that [release date].’ They want it to be great, and they’re giving us the time to make it great."

Personally, I thought Deadpool was a pretty good movie, but there’s definitely room for improvement, and Miller agrees that it’s not simply a matter of making the sequel bigger:

“I don’t look at Deadpool and think, ‘Oh, that’s a perfect movie.’ I look at it and go, ‘Oh, God, there’s so much stuff I could do better.’ What you don’t want to do is all the stupid stuff like ‘Oh, now it has to be twice as big because people are going to be bored!’ or ‘It’s going to have three times the villains!’

Miller went on to say that the first film clarified how important casting was, and that when it came to the overall size of the picture:

“It feels like a small movie to me and I feel like I could have done a much better job of getting us out there and adding some scope. I don’t think I did a good job with establishing shots and scope and making it feel like a bigger world. It feels like a small indie movie, and some of that works well, but some of it I think I could have done a better job of making this feel like a world a little more.”

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Image via 20th Century Fox

He also added that in the sequel, he wants the villain’s motivation to be clearer than we had for Ajax (a bad guy who’s evil just because).

But before we get to the villain, fans are chomping at the bit to know if Miller has anyone in mind for Cable, a character who was teased in the Deadpool stinger. Miller says he’s not even thinking about casting until the script gels. He won’t know what kind of Cable they have until the script informs the character, and that affects casting. He pointed out that there have been different kinds of approaches to the character in the comics, and they don’t want to proceed until they know which one they’re adapting (an incredibly wise approach).


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Image via 20th Century Fox

As for his thoughts on an X-Force movie, he says that while he’d personally like it to be rated R, he understands that the market might make it PG-13, and he understands the business realities that make most superhero movies PG-13 instead of R:

“I’ll just say I’d like it to be an R-rated movie, but I’ve always been very realistic. We’re not making fine art here. This is commerce. So if for some reason there was a story that needed to be bigger and needed to be at a certain budget, and it didn’t warrant an R-rated budget, although it’s harder to make that argument now after Deadpool, but let’s say we were saying it before Deadpool came out; I understand that. I’m not one of those directors who goes ‘I want it because I want it!’ and ‘It should be because I think it should be!’ There’s economics at work here, and I would like it to be R-rated.

 

And I know there was some talk around Hollywood, and James Gunn talked about it, and I agree very much with what he said. I think Deadpool worked because of what it was. I think Deadpool worked because it was funny. I think Deadpool worked because it didn’t take itself seriously. That’s why it worked as an R-rated film. I’m not sure any superhero movie will work as an R-rated film. I’m not sure some members of the public are going to be happy with the blood and gore if it’s not balanced with humor and the other stuff.”

Finally, if he were to make an X-Force movie, he notes that Deadpool is small scale and then that all changes when you bring in a cosmic figure like Cable, and then “X-Force is larger still”. Whatever Deadpool is gets diluted because you have to deal with a larger cast and having to service other characters. “There’s a charm to the scale of Deadpool’s universe, and how do you apply that to the larger X-Men universe?” muses Miller.


I recommend checking out the full interview above, but here are a couple other fun notes:

- He doesn’t know/can’t say if Vanessa will become Copycat in the sequel.

- He would prefer if the title had a subtitle rather than a number.

Click here for all our previous Deadpool coverage which includes tons of interviews, clips, and more.

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Image via 20th Century Fox
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Image via 20th Century Fox

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Image via 20th Century Fox