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'Deadpool 2' Loses Director Tim Miller Over Creative Differences

Joe Lederer/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

The director has parted ways with the studio over what insiders say are creative differences between him and Ryan Reynolds, the actor who plays the titular Marvel character.

Tim Miller, who directed Deadpool and had a hand in giving Fox its biggest hit of the year, will not direct Deadpool 2.

The director has parted ways with the studio over what insiders say are creative differences between him and Ryan Reynolds, the actor who plays the titular Marvel character.

Deadpool made $786 million worldwide when it opened on Valentine’s Day this year, launching a new franchise for the studio. The movie re-energized Reynolds' career but also began a second act for Miller, a visual-effects specialist who founded Blur Studio and made a name for himself making video game trailers and opening credits.

By all accounts, the movie's success was truly shared by Reynolds, who helped define the voice of the character for screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, as well as Miller. In fact, Miller is believed to be the one who leaked Deadpool test footage into the wilds of the internet, with the ensuing enthusiastic reaction being just what was needed to ensure that Fox, which was waffling over whether or not to make the movie, gave it the green light.

Even before the movie’s opening, the gang was back together plotting the sequel. Deadpool 2 is in the casting stages and is in the middle of testing six actresses for the part of Domino, the project’s new female lead.

Sources say Reynolds and Miller had increasingly butted heads over certain creative issues. Reynolds was a producer on the original, along with Simon Kinberg and Lauren Shuler Donner, but sources say his clout has increased exponentially on the sequel.

Fox says the parting of ways is amicable and is already jumping hand-in-hand with Miller into another project, Influx, the adaptation of a science fiction novel by Daniel Suarez.