Deadpool Writers Were on Set Because Ryan Reynolds Paid Them When Fox Wouldn't

When it was time to shoot Deadpool, 20th Century Fox wouldn't pay writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to be on set. It was important to star Ryan Reynolds that the creative team was present during shooting, so he paid them himself.

In an interview on AMC's Geeking Out (via ComicBook.com), Reese and Wernick revealed that they were on set because of Reynolds' generosity.

"We were on set every day," they said. "Interestingly, Ryan wanted us there; we were on the project for six years. It was really a core creative team of us, Ryan, and the director Tim Miller. Fox interestingly wouldn't pay for us to be on set. Ryan Reynolds paid out of his own money, out of his own pocket."

Reese and Wernick's past work includes Zombieland and GI Joe: Retaliation. They're also on board to pen Deadpool 2 and a movie based on the Ubisoft video game series Watch Dogs.

Deadpool is now available on Blu-ray. It stars Reynolds, Morena Baccarin (Gotham), Ed Skrein (Game of Thrones), TJ Miller (Silicon Valley), and Brianna Hildebrand (Prism). The movie broke a number of records, became the second biggest debut in US history for the first installment of a superhero film, and is currently the highest-grossing R-rated movie.

Shooting for the sequel is expected to start early next year. Deadpool 2's cast hasn't been announced yet, but Avatar actor Stephen Lang has expressed interest in playing the time-travelling character Cable.