‘Deadpool’ Star T.J. Miller Reveals The Jokes That Were Even Too Dirty For An R Rating

Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds has been touting his superhero action flick for months now, building on the idea of a foul-mouthed, fun-loving character to entertain adults instead of children. Building on the well deserved R rating, Deadpool teasers have garnered attention from adult moviegoers eager for something that differentiates itself from the usual superhero fare. Now, actor T.J. Miller reveals that Deadpool might have been even raunchier, if some jokes hadn’t been clipped to avoid an NC-17 rating, or even a possible X rating.

T.J. Miller Says Deadpool Would Have Offended Even The Most Open-Minded With These Jokes

As many fans of the Deadpool comic book series can attest, there are many factors that go into making the Deadpool film adaptation an R rated exploration of violence, blood and gore, and vulgar humor. While the film’s overall story will guarantee that rating sticks, there were some elements that might have landed an NC-17 or X rating for the film, if they had remained. T.J. Miller, who plays Weasel in the film, says that there were some jokes that had to be cut from the film for their content.

“You look like a trucker sh– on your shoulders and then shaped ears into it,” was one such insult considered too dirty for theaters.

“Someone pulled your balls up through your mouth and wrapped them around your head,” was another one-liner that failed to make it into the Deadpool final cut.

Miller says the jokes were left out of the film primarily because they were “too difficult to imagine” and adds that other one-liners were also omitted from the film for similar reasons. The Deadpool actor doesn’t describe just how these lines were used in the film, but it seems likely that his character hurls these insults at his friend, Wade/Deadpool.

One insult seemed too edgy to make it to the final cut, says Miller, so he was surprised to learn producers left the line in the film.

“You’re gonna die alone, or at least for other people’s sake, I hope you do.”

Deadpool Is A Cut Above The Rest, Says Director Tim Miller

Deadpool is unique for more than its R rating. While the film is derived from a Marvel comic book series, the rights to the film are owned by Fox, making the Deadpool character a part of the X-Men cinematic universe. While it seems like a typical rights ownership issue that often arises in Hollywood, there’s much more to it, beneath the surface. As a property of Walt Disney Studios, Marvel couldn’t produce a Deadpool film in the way it deserved, but Fox, on the other hand, was more than willing to allow the story to be told with little regard to rating.

Rob Liefeld, who wrote the Deadpool script, is a fan of the action films of earlier generations, before everyone tried to fit into the PG-13 niche, so he was pleased to be brought on board to help write the R rated superhero film.

“I grew up on R-rated action films and you didn’t blink…[and now] we’ve gotten into this family friend space and Deadpool trashes it.”

Tim Miller revealed that early versions of the Deadpool script were much more difficult to work with, because, at that time, the idea had been to try to maintain a PG-13 rating.

“When we were on set, [we would] have to worry about that all the time [and] it would really inhibit us in a lot of ways,” said the Deadpool director.

Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds, Karan Soni, and Ed Skrein, is scheduled for a February 12 theatrical release.

[Image by Twentieth Century Fox/Marvel Enterprises]