Shawn Levy and Ryan ReynoldsPhoto: Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Netflix
The Love Celebration currently taking place between Free Guy and Adam Project Director Shawn Levy and star Ryan Reynolds reached a new milestone today as THR reports Levy has been tapped to direct Marvel’s upcoming Deadpool 3 movie.
The Deadpool films, which have been mothballed since 2018, partly due to the high-profile transfer of all of Fox’s X-Men-related projects to Disney, have always struggled with finding directors. In particular, Deadpool director Tim Miller (who managed to hit big with his directorial debut) left the second film, reportedly due to creative differences with Reynolds. David Leitch eventually took on this sequel.
However, “creative differences” do not yet pose a problem between Reynolds and Levy; Reynolds has starred in Levy’s last two films, the video game Free Guy and Netflix’s new time-travel movie Project Adam, which was released this week.
Of course, the big question looming over Deadpool 3 is how far Disney is willing to take it. Both films in the franchise were hard R-rated films, using a raunchy sense of humor that suited The Mouthful Mercenary well and a refreshing contrast to the decidedly PG-13 tone of most major superhero films.
We can’t help but note that Levi isn’t necessarily the guy you go to when you need a lot of scatological humor and shooting; he appeared on children’s television before becoming popular in the Night at the Museum franchise. Even his “adult” comedies, such as Tina Fey and Steve Carell’s Date Night, tend to be more modest.
Of course, if there’s one lesson that Deadpool’s performance in the music director’s chair has illustrated, it’s that Reynolds is the heart and soul of the character and tone steward of the franchise. He will also team up with screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, who worked on the first two films; Bob’s Burgers and The Great North writers Wendy Molyneux and Lizzie Molyneux-Laugeleline also worked on the third installment in the franchise.