Ryan Reynolds claims Disney shot down a Deadpool crossover with Bambi

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Ryan Reynolds had an idea for a Deadpool and Bambi crossover

Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool
(Image credit: 20th Century Fox)

Ryan Reynolds has said he pitched a Deadpool and Bambi crossover to Disney, who turned it down.

"I wanted to do a short film of Deadpool interrogating the hunter who killed Bambi's mom," Reynolds explained to IGN. "But the whole gist of it is that Deadpool is actually just a huge fan. He's not interrogating – he just wants to know how he could be the most loathed Disney character in the history of Disney... and of course, Disney was like, 'well, I don't think that's ever going to happen.'"

It's not surprising that Disney turned down a crossover with the character who devastated children (and adults) everywhere in Bambi, but, following the failed pitch, Reynolds went back with the idea for the Deadpool and Korg crossover to promote his upcoming movie Free Guy.

"Then we came back to them – we wrote the Deadpool-Korg piece... and we sent it to them, and they said, 'yes!'," Reynolds said. "So, my next call was to Taika [Waititi] and Taika was in. He's also in Free Guy so it wasn't that hard... Taika's an actual genius so I was thrilled to collaborate with him as this kind of character."

Free Guy, meanwhile, follows Reynolds' titular character Guy, who discovers he's an NPC in a video game, and goes about becoming a hero. The movie releases this August 13 – until then, check out our guide to all of 2021's upcoming movie release dates.

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.