The $7 million cuts that got Deadpool greenlit at the last minute

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Deadpool is one of the year's most highly-anticipated films, but it almost didn't happen. Even after test footage leaked and fans were begging Twentieth Century Fox to make the movie, director Tim Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had to slash $7 million from their projected budget. Worse, they had just 48 hours to do so.

"We, as a group, just put our heads together, got creative, and said 'How do we cut what is essentially nine pages out of a 110 page script?'" Reese told i09. Stressful though it must have been, the team pulled it off. The reduction of three enemy characters into one to create Angel Dust (Gina Carano), the removal of a motorcycle chase scene, and scaling down a gunfight in the third act all helped Deadpool finally get the go-ahead. Reese and Wernick even had a little fun with that last change, by having Deadpool forget his guns when the shootout would've taken place. Can't have a big, expensive gunfight without guns, after all.

Sam Prell
Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.