Ryan Reynolds Reacts to ‘Deadpool’ Oscar Snub Very Deadpoolishly
When Ryan Reynolds launched an Oscar campaign for his smash Deadpool a week before the 2017 Academy Award nominations were announced, his "for your consideration" video was as sardonically humorous as the movie's Marvel character itself — and Reynolds even promised a "crazy reaction video" if he got the honor.
Deadpool was overlooked, so we'll never get to see that reaction video. But Reynolds' social media presence offers more jokes than mopes, so he offered a gracious, self-deprecating congrats to the nominees following their January 24 announcement.
In addition to the honor of a nod from the Academy, Reynolds had hoped Deadpool would bust the Academy's traditional exclusion of super hero movies: With the exception of Heath Ledger's posthumous 2008 Supporting Actor win for The Dark Knight, comic book films' rare Oscar nominations tend to be solely for effects and makeup.
Regarding the prospect of a Best Picture nomination for Deadpool, Reynolds had told THR's Awards Chatter podcast, "If it does end up in that category, I think that's kind of a cool moment, for not just us, but for everybody — for the people that went to see the movie, the people that made the movie, the studio, even the Academy. I don't think that any superhero film has ever really broken that glass ceiling, so it would be nice to see one like Deadpool do it."
Reynolds also told THR that he had wanted to play Deadpool since the days of his ill-received Green Lantern back in 2011: "I quickly called the executive I knew at Fox who had Deadpool and I said, 'Look, I am standing at the altar right now, and I'm about to say "I do" to someone else. I will walk away from this if you even think that you can make a Deadpool movie with me.' And he said, 'Unfortunately, no, I don't think that that's gonna happen.' So I went off and did Green Lantern."
While Green Lantern was both a critical and commercial flop, Reynolds won in the end: He did eventually become the popular onscreen incarnation of Deadpool, and working on Green Lantern introduced him to his wife, Blake Lively.
Oscar Snubs and Surprises
2017 Oscar Nominations: Best Picture