Please Don't Let Quentin Tarantino Near 'Deadpool 2'

Fans started a petition to get Quentin Tarantino to direct the 'Deadpool' sequel, but that's the last thing the movie needs.

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Complex Original

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As good as Deadpool was, and as much of an underdog success story the movie was in terms of box office numbers, it's not an exaggeration to say that the movie is limping towards its sequel. This weekend, news hit that Deadpool director Tim Miller was leaving Deadpool 2 over "creative differences" with star Ryan Reynolds. Those differences, according to The Wrap, were that Miller wanted to make the sequel more stylized, and that Reynolds disagreed with Miller's wanting to cast Friday Night Lights alum Kyle Chandler as Cable. That Fox backed Reynolds in the dispute isn't surprising, but it is worrisome. While a ton of praise (and a lot of the funds) goes to Ryan Reynolds for righting the wrong that was that terrible "Deadpool" from X-Men Origins: Wolverine and boldly making Deadpool happen, he's not the only factor that contributed to the movie's success. The team of Reynolds, Miller, and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were a unit, one that kept Deadpool raunchy, and most importantly, true to the comics. What comes next could kill Deadpool 2 before it even gets out of the starting gates.

Case in point? The internet, being quick on the draw and short on thought, went into hyperdrive after Miller's departure and drew up a Change.org petitionto get Quentin Tarantino in as the director for Deadpool 2. While that sounds stupendous in theory, that's the last thing this project needs.

I'm a huge fan of Tarantino. I'm old enough to remember him as the brain behind True Romance and Natural Born Killers, lived through my high school friends putting the Pulp Fiction poster in their bedrooms, and just recently had to go back to Kill Bill, Vol. 2 to listen to Bill break down alter-egos using a perfect Superman/Clark Kent analogy. He's a cinephile who takes his vast knowledge of pop culture and applies it perfectly to his films. Having Tarantino make a superhero film would be a serious treat for fans of the comic book medium. But for Deadpool? It doesn't feel right.

First off, if Ryan doesn't want Deadpool 2 to be "stylized," Tarantino certainly can't be on his list of replacement directors, right? There's no way that Tarantino wouldn't want to shoot this on 35mm film, or make it a two-and-a-half-hour homage to Westerns, Predator, and '90s hip-hop. No shade, but Tarantino goes big; it's hard to imagine him toning himself down with a character who's already so loud. And if you bring in Tarantino, then you might as well get rid of writers Reese and Wernick; this would end up being a Tarantino written-and-directed epic, with a cavalcade of mega-obscure references flowing out of Deadpool's mouth. It's also interesting to think of the long-term. While we barely know how the X-Men Cinematic Universe will shake out (especially with Logan seemingly taking place in some distant future), there's no doubt that Tarantino would throw a Colossus-sized wrench into the universe's ongoing construction. Would he be purposefully trying to bridge that universe and his universe with Deadpool 2? Where would a Donowitz brother end up?

Ultimately, it just feels like Tarantino would go too far in the opposite direction of what Deadpool the character and Deadpool​ the film were about. One of Deadpool's biggest problems is that he has champagne dreams and beer money; he wants you to think he's this grandiose hero-type, but instead of getting cats out of trees and stopping forest fires, he's doing mercenary work while leaving a huge pile of bodies on the floor. He couldn't even afford A-list X-Men for his very own film! He's the forever underdog, primarily because he can't get out of his own way. It's unfair to say that Tarantino couldn't find a way to tell Deadpool's story, but the reason Deadpool worked was because it was the antithesis of the superhero films we've been getting—a hard R-rated bloodfest with low-brow humor that ended up being a middle finger to the superhero establishment.

With a character like Deadpool, Tarantino might actually be able to get some shit off of his chest. He's never been shy or candid about sharing his true feelings in the media. As tempting as that sounds, it's impossible to believe that he'd make the movie that Ryan Reynolds feels Deadpool 2 should be. It might be cool, but actually, that's the furthest thing Deadpool 2 needs to be.

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