Speaker 1: M m m. You're listening to playback a Variety I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio podcast. I'm your host, Variety Awards Editor Chris Tapley.
Speaker 1: We're changing things up this week with comic book legend
Speaker 1: Rob Leifeld. Deadpool two was crashing into theaters this weekend,
Speaker 1: and it seemed like a good time to catch up
Speaker 1: with the guy who created characters like Cable, Domino and
Speaker 1: Deadpool himself. We talked about that in the overall comic
Speaker 1: book movie Landscape, which is clearly rocking Hollywood to its core.
Speaker 1: So sit tight, this is playback. That's why. Okay, Henry
Speaker 1: Winkler sat here. Henry Winkler said, here man, just a
Speaker 1: moment and go home. Yeah, I told Deborah said till Henry.
Speaker 1: I said, hey, hey, sure he's never heard that. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: and hit the jukebox. Come on, wholewis why I didn't
Speaker 1: into this morning? And he opened his mouth and the
Speaker 1: Foxes already into years. He's just telling me that you
Speaker 1: guys are like drilled into it. But I do not
Speaker 1: I do not, I do not break. I'm good. Fox
Speaker 1: loves me because I've never screwed up, did I say never?
Speaker 1: Today's my day, Today's my day. Isn't that crazy? Though?
Speaker 1: You're gonna they protect these franchises, you know, I mean
Speaker 1: they Yeah, but from what you know, people find out
Speaker 1: something who cares? Spoiler culture is a little crazy, isn't it.
Speaker 1: This one is really like yeah, that's pretty They've done
Speaker 1: a really good job. I mean people have U had
Speaker 1: a guy call me and tell me, not tell me
Speaker 1: on social media like I'm incensed. The Cable is a
Speaker 1: bad guy in this movie and he's a villain. And
Speaker 1: I said, you got all that from a minute and
Speaker 1: forty seconds and trailers because I said, you know, most
Speaker 1: of those trailers are skits. Actual footage you've seen is
Speaker 1: a minute and forty I said, so you've figured out
Speaker 1: a two hour movie on a minute. And like I
Speaker 1: told Paul, he was actually really resonably goes it's a
Speaker 1: really good point, man. Okay, I'll wait and see the movie. Awesome,
Speaker 1: that's what That's what I think. The studios, these people
Speaker 1: take a bit and they run a narrative. Al Right,
Speaker 1: well we are recording my friend. Alright, everyone, we're here
Speaker 1: today with Rob Liffeld, the creator of characters like Deadpool, Cable, Domino,
Speaker 1: all of whom will be in Deadpool to releasing this weekend,
Speaker 1: so we're changing enough a bit. We've got a comic
Speaker 1: book guy in here. This love it. Thank you, Thanks
Speaker 1: for I wanted to have you in here. Obviously, uh
Speaker 1: focus on talk about Deadpool, but I also wanted to
Speaker 1: get your perspective just on where we're at. Like the
Speaker 1: comic book movie landscape, you know, I mean, it's a
Speaker 1: fascinating landscape to me because it's actually not new. I mean,
Speaker 1: certainly it's dominant now, but you go back, you look
Speaker 1: like Superman too. Three Batman movies throughout the nineties. These
Speaker 1: movies in their time, one the opening weekend box office records.
Speaker 1: So it's like these There's been popularity with the genre
Speaker 1: for quite a long time. Lately it's super dominant. And
Speaker 1: I'm just curious what you think about that landscape, especially
Speaker 1: because things are so dominant at a time where it
Speaker 1: seems like comic book sales are trending downward. So why
Speaker 1: do you think there's such a mean, this is such
Speaker 1: a great question. Let me tell you something. I'll go
Speaker 1: straight to the heart of what you asked about. What
Speaker 1: you said about the Batman franchise, The comic book movies
Speaker 1: had to move beyond him to get any any belief
Speaker 1: from from the town, the studios of filmmakers because the
Speaker 1: Adam West TV show and the cartoons, and they just said, oh,
Speaker 1: that's Batman. Batman always does one. Certainly the movie the
Speaker 1: first movie with Keaton and Nicholson extremely well. But in
Speaker 1: the early nineties, when I was called to every executive suite,
Speaker 1: everybody wanted to get into the comic business, the comic
Speaker 1: movie business. And they would sit there and I appreciate
Speaker 1: the honesty on behalf of a couple of them. I
Speaker 1: was on the board of Marvel Comics. I know comics
Speaker 1: are big. I don't know about anything you're doing, but
Speaker 1: I know Batman does well, and we should do a movie.
Speaker 1: And I was like, I don't want to be in
Speaker 1: business with this guy. This, this is this is the
Speaker 1: road to nowhere. And then these are the guys that
Speaker 1: do the Jack Ryan movies, Patriot games whatever. They think
Speaker 1: it's a good idea to have comic book movies. And
Speaker 1: then I meet with him and I'm telling you, man,
Speaker 1: they didn't know anything about comics. They just knew that
Speaker 1: on the Ledger Batman had made some money, but nobody
Speaker 1: went forward the Marvel movies certainly weren't getting any traction
Speaker 1: in the nineties early nineties, and uh, I was sitting
Speaker 1: with the President of Paramount, John Goldwin is his name.
Speaker 1: He went on to be producer on like that serial
Speaker 1: killer show Dexter. He was a president of Paramount. He
Speaker 1: had sought me out in the early two thousands. He
Speaker 1: liked young Blood because of the genetic manipulation of the characters,
Speaker 1: because he had transformed his own body through working out
Speaker 1: and all the this is all the stuff it told me,
Speaker 1: and I was like, wow, this this is interesting. His
Speaker 1: his perspective, well, Olevan, Orange County, which is an hour
Speaker 1: and a half from here. So when I get called
Speaker 1: up to a meeting by the president of Paramount, I
Speaker 1: assume it was pretty good news. But drew me all
Speaker 1: the way up to inform me, and he whipped out
Speaker 1: a chart. I could not believe it. I had a chart.
Speaker 1: Rob We've done some internal examining of this superhero trend
Speaker 1: that's going on right now. By that time, you'd had
Speaker 1: one Spider Man movie and maybe two x mens And
Speaker 1: he said, we believe this is a bell curve, and
Speaker 1: we believe this bell curve is going to end, and
Speaker 1: we would be in, by our estimates, in the middle
Speaker 1: of making our movie at the best case scenario. Best
Speaker 1: case the development goes great and the bell curve would
Speaker 1: be over and we would be whold left hold in
Speaker 1: the bag. And that's just not a situation we could
Speaker 1: be in. And I said, hey, man, I could not
Speaker 1: disagree with you more. You have guys who have clause
Speaker 1: coming out of their hands. You have people who are
Speaker 1: literally flaming on you have Spider Man swinging across the
Speaker 1: sky in Manhattan. You can't go back to Bruce Willis
Speaker 1: with his bare feet on glass and a gun in
Speaker 1: a building. It's just we've moved beyond that. We are
Speaker 1: now and next. This is what special effects were made for.
Speaker 1: And these are rich characters. But Superpowers is going to
Speaker 1: become the game of the day. It's it's it's it's
Speaker 1: where we're gonna be enticed, and not just the visual
Speaker 1: of the superpowers, the responsibility and all the conflict that
Speaker 1: comes with it. And I said, next time, just call me,
Speaker 1: Just call me and tell me you're not doing it.
Speaker 1: I don't need to drive all the way up here
Speaker 1: for you to tell me that you have a chart
Speaker 1: and and and and that is such a rich memory
Speaker 1: for me because I remember going, he is one percent wrong,
Speaker 1: and to find out that I was right and paramount
Speaker 1: if you examine their history other than distributing the Marvel
Speaker 1: films briefly before Disney bought them, just in distribution distribution deals,
Speaker 1: they never made it compliment. The other thing that you
Speaker 1: think is you're walking to get in your car. They've
Speaker 1: they're gonna make another Common movie. They just haven't announced
Speaker 1: it yet. That's why Mind got dealt out of the
Speaker 1: deal didn't happen. They did not make a Common movie.
Speaker 1: They got into the Transformers business. But the the fact
Speaker 1: that and and you just go, that's when I'm up against.
Speaker 1: That's what That's what Kevin Kevin Figy broke through that
Speaker 1: first on the X Men movies, then with Iron Man
Speaker 1: and look Man. I remember in two thousand six Wall
Speaker 1: Street Journal downgrading Marvel as a stock because all they
Speaker 1: had and and I've got it at home, D list characters.
Speaker 1: That's all that's left. Spider Man, the X Men, and
Speaker 1: the Fantasy before are spoken for. All they've got is
Speaker 1: Iron Man or Captain American. I's laughed. And now where
Speaker 1: we're at is these are giant dramas, spectacles. It's soap opera.
Speaker 1: The way Marvel rolls it out, you can't miss the
Speaker 1: next chapter. You can't. They just make it impossible for
Speaker 1: you to skip it. The interesting take is how anybody
Speaker 1: else gets in the door because Marvel has ocked it up.
Speaker 1: I don't ever believe. I believe because, as I've told
Speaker 1: you before when we've spoken, I have a fourteen year old,
Speaker 1: a sixteen year old, and an eighteen year old as
Speaker 1: of today, and they have adopted these films as their mythology.
Speaker 1: And I my son, so I his name is Luke.
Speaker 1: He might have been influenced by Star Wars because he's dead,
Speaker 1: is obsessed with it, but I handed I made sure
Speaker 1: he Luke's my oldest first movie was Revenge of the Sif,
Speaker 1: and I took him to the theater. He's five years old,
Speaker 1: and I saw his mind get blown away by Star Wars,
Speaker 1: and I knew I had a convert right there. He's
Speaker 1: gonna do that with his kid. Whatever moral movies coming out,
Speaker 1: and that kid is gonna completely because we'd have to
Speaker 1: jump to the it suddenly jumped to the conclusion, and
Speaker 1: suddenly the movies are going to be poorly made. And
Speaker 1: I think as long as fagg he's there, Hey, Kevin,
Speaker 1: it's five year FAGGI I always mistaken, but there you go. Uh,
Speaker 1: as long as he's there guiding it, obviously the quality
Speaker 1: level is going to maintain. I mean, he's that franchise
Speaker 1: is Kathleen Kennedy? You know? I mean so? But did
Speaker 1: the long, long answer is I've encountered it. Batman was
Speaker 1: seen as just Batman's success. Well there's Batman. Well, Batman
Speaker 1: has always been part of the culture. It was I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, man, they just believed Batman was his own
Speaker 1: thing and that's why they couldn't break through with anything else. Um,
Speaker 1: d C will keep getting the shot because people want
Speaker 1: to see good versions of those characters. They are also beloved.
Speaker 1: But Marvel, I believe the future is ten years from now,
Speaker 1: we're still talking about their dominant franchise. And it's crazy
Speaker 1: because DC Warner Brothers they had a huge head start here.
Speaker 1: I mean that stuff was under their purview for a
Speaker 1: very long time. Uh. And you know it takes vision
Speaker 1: I guess, uh, somebody with passion for the characters to see.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is stuff that us geeks were talking
Speaker 1: about for years was how cool would it be if
Speaker 1: we could just see all these characters share universe on screen.
Speaker 1: It's like people have been talking about it, wanting it
Speaker 1: for so long. It's amazing. It took some some and
Speaker 1: so long to pull the trigger. And they only took
Speaker 1: so long because Marvel, because they're waiting for all these
Speaker 1: properties to come back under there their scope. So and
Speaker 1: I believe, like I mean, I said this to my
Speaker 1: kid the other day, a GUALI looked, do you remember
Speaker 1: two years ago when the biggest cinematic event of our
Speaker 1: time was going to be the Justice League? They're coming
Speaker 1: together on screen. They're coming to either Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Acquaman,
Speaker 1: They're coming together. Um. The thing is if you look back,
Speaker 1: because I love that social media always tells us what's
Speaker 1: happening fifteen years ago, this day or you know this day.
Speaker 1: It always has the styles of factor. And I think
Speaker 1: it was like last week was fifteen years since the
Speaker 1: first Spider Man and Ego, So fifteen years we've had
Speaker 1: three Spider Man and the new one seems like the favorite.
Speaker 1: I mean, Todd, I don't I don't want to refer
Speaker 1: to him as a product. Tom Holland. You know, but
Speaker 1: you go, we've already done McGuire, and forgive me, I'm
Speaker 1: blanking on brilliant Andrew Garfield, who kind of got the
Speaker 1: sword in because I thought he was great, but character
Speaker 1: was so and he was great. The second movie really
Speaker 1: let him down. That's my opinion. The second movie looked
Speaker 1: like a nineteen Batman movie. It felt like we've gone
Speaker 1: with we've just gone backwards. Uh. And again the fans
Speaker 1: are too savvy for that there too. They've they've now
Speaker 1: sampled so many nineteen Marvel Disney films. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: that's a lot, right, And uh, you know, like I said,
Speaker 1: my my I think my kids. You know, my my
Speaker 1: son's birthday fell on two years ago and he turned
Speaker 1: sixteen when Civil War came out, and his mother and
Speaker 1: I drove all twelve kids to the theater and they
Speaker 1: that was I mean, that's their birthday parties. Many I got.
Speaker 1: I was searching through his birthday pictures today and there
Speaker 1: it was him and his buddies, all standard from the
Speaker 1: Civil War banner and he I mean, these are our
Speaker 1: event films. And I'm telling you, man, I've been in
Speaker 1: comics thirty two years professionally thirty two years, so it
Speaker 1: is since you were like four years old. That's right,
Speaker 1: that's right. It has blown. It is it is. I
Speaker 1: remember NBC put on a whole movie that had Thor
Speaker 1: on it, the Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and fandom
Speaker 1: was so excited and the Thor portrayal at the time
Speaker 1: didn't suck, and they kind of played up the rousing
Speaker 1: Viking and I remember all of us watching it and
Speaker 1: being so thrilled and uh and the Dartable one was decent.
Speaker 1: They did too, and You're like, it was like, this
Speaker 1: is the best we get. This is the best we get.
Speaker 1: And now you look back in those days and go, oh,
Speaker 1: we moved away beyond this, Like you know, so, what
Speaker 1: did you think of Infinity War? Uh? It was as
Speaker 1: big as I expected. It had great pairings, great uh
Speaker 1: uh fights like like and I you understand, I think
Speaker 1: I've expressed this TOI me. Up until that point, they
Speaker 1: all seem like they have the same power and Captain America,
Speaker 1: Iron Man, Spider Man, and the Hulk are not the
Speaker 1: same power levels in the comics. When I was a kid,
Speaker 1: they in one of the Spider Man annuals in the
Speaker 1: back they had groupings power level A power level B
Speaker 1: and like the ultimate was like Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange.
Speaker 1: And so to see in this movie that finally, because
Speaker 1: in the films it seems like Cap can take a
Speaker 1: punch for a Hulk and and Iron Man and Cap
Speaker 1: can have a fisticuffs and you're like, in the comics,
Speaker 1: iron Man is way more powerful. But I don't know
Speaker 1: what the deal is, but they all seem like the same,
Speaker 1: the same power level, and probably Luke Cage could walk
Speaker 1: in and have the same power level from from the
Speaker 1: TV show. But seeing Doctor Strange at a different power
Speaker 1: level was befitting the story. And uh, not surprisingly my
Speaker 1: favorite Thor and Doctor Strange were my most compelling characters
Speaker 1: in the film. I thought they had the most fun
Speaker 1: or most to do. And then obviously I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: I mean last year, Andy Serkis got all that run
Speaker 1: deservedly so for Caesar. Every time he plays that that
Speaker 1: the plane of the eighth role. I believe Josh should
Speaker 1: be up for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Panos.
Speaker 1: The mo cap alone deserves awards. We had the root
Speaker 1: was in here and I told him I was like
Speaker 1: I didn't know if I expected him to phone it in,
Speaker 1: but I just didn't expect such a full performance and
Speaker 1: it was so compelling. Josh had warned me ahead of
Speaker 1: time that it was his film. This is really my phone,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, I was like, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: and uh, you hear that, and you know it's there's
Speaker 1: thirty superheroes in there, Josh, it's not and then you
Speaker 1: oh it really it really is analys film. And when
Speaker 1: Mantis is on his shoulders, uh, and they're fighting him
Speaker 1: and she's trying to calm him down, and there's are
Speaker 1: really tight shots of his face going through all the
Speaker 1: spectrum of emotions as he tries to regain his anger
Speaker 1: and she's trying to pull him back and calm him.
Speaker 1: The expressions and the work, it was flawless. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I like they genetically created fan ofs and you go, no, no,
Speaker 1: I love that Marvel put out that photo of Josh
Speaker 1: with the stick behind him, with the high fanos picture
Speaker 1: and all the green dots and the black The appreciation
Speaker 1: for I mean, what he had to do is in um.
Speaker 1: And I would also say this if he was not cable. UM.
Speaker 1: I was that impressed. I was, so I think Infinity War.
Speaker 1: Look again, I also see it through my kid's eyes.
Speaker 1: I told you, my son told me that it was
Speaker 1: the biggest cinematic event of his generation. And I saw
Speaker 1: Iron Man when he was eight Infinity War when he's eighteen.
Speaker 1: This is a culmination of everything they promised, and he
Speaker 1: freaking he loved it. I mean, I don't know how
Speaker 1: if you're you know, plugged in with any of those
Speaker 1: guys over there, have any idea where they're going with it.
Speaker 1: So maybe not, but you know it's gonna speculate with me.
Speaker 1: I mean spoilers if you haven't Infinity War somehow and
Speaker 1: listening to this, but where do you think they're gonna go?
Speaker 1: I literally spent weeks. Now it's two weeks later. I've
Speaker 1: kind of been distracted by Deadpool and I'm not thinking
Speaker 1: about it as much. But I literally I'm likeike, is
Speaker 1: there a time jump? Is there? Are the only spoilers
Speaker 1: to me, there's one giant thing that's been looming in
Speaker 1: the press, and the fact that they're making another Spider
Speaker 1: Man movie like this summer that makes it difficult to
Speaker 1: take on face value. Some of the stuff that happened
Speaker 1: in the film, So I'm just not certain, and I
Speaker 1: am as anxious as anybody. I think they probably know
Speaker 1: they have the most anticipated trailer of all time, because
Speaker 1: we'll all see what they're doing when that comes together.
Speaker 1: I mean, I gotta be honest, I was. I left
Speaker 1: a little confused. Um, I didn't. I knew I'd be devastated.
Speaker 1: I didn't expect to be confused, and I was a
Speaker 1: little confused as to what I just wantrobably expected other
Speaker 1: characters to perish, right A couple of them I thought
Speaker 1: were queued up for momentous deaths, and when it didn't happen.
Speaker 1: I gotta be honest, I was like, oh, wait, that
Speaker 1: is it gonna is there gonna be a better opportunity
Speaker 1: than that. I mean, I felt the whole spectrum of emotions.
Speaker 1: It was, You're you're shock and awe, You're impressed by
Speaker 1: the performances, You're excited by the pairings. I mean, dude,
Speaker 1: Hemsworth calling raccoon rabbit never got old to me, never.
Speaker 1: I mean, must have done it ten time. And then
Speaker 1: and here's my friend Tree. That maybe my funny. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think that stuff is just the gold of the
Speaker 1: movie that's Golden and and and racks. This is a
Speaker 1: pirate married to an angel or whatever however you describe
Speaker 1: a certain invisible Yes, that's great. You can't see me.
Speaker 1: I mean, so they had great bits, there's really good stuff.
Speaker 1: You know. Well, it's interesting is I AMDB released the
Speaker 1: screen time and it was great. I did a quiz
Speaker 1: with my kids the other because I got it. And
Speaker 1: you can see, like who had the most screen time
Speaker 1: in the film, and you go, Christopher Ovans is on
Speaker 1: screen for four minutes and twenty two seconds. That's it.
Speaker 1: That's it, And they've got everyone. It's great. You'll get
Speaker 1: consumed when you get it. You'll be consumed by it. Um.
Speaker 1: Obviously Josh is twenty nine and a half minutes on screen,
Speaker 1: uh in a two hour movie. Twenty But I mean
Speaker 1: it literally gives you how much everyone is in the movie.
Speaker 1: And it's that's the great thing about it is the
Speaker 1: balance of all it. Uh. Yeah. And to your point
Speaker 1: about you know, being skeptical of of those who appear
Speaker 1: to die in the movie, I mean also like Black
Speaker 1: Panther just is about to tap out of seven million dollars.
Speaker 1: It's kind of hard. That's it. That's and that's you know.
Speaker 1: My kids, my my my youngest son fifteen years old,
Speaker 1: was like, give me a break, he said, Dad. They
Speaker 1: didn't know how how big Black Panther was gonna be.
Speaker 1: That's what That's what it turns out to me, the
Speaker 1: first thing he said to me. And I'm like, Okay,
Speaker 1: don't say that too loud or the premiere. Don't say
Speaker 1: that like we have to act like that's we totally
Speaker 1: didn't see that coming either. Um. Yeah, so no, I mean, look,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be great to see how In my mind, okay,
Speaker 1: in my mind, I wonder if they're all in a
Speaker 1: different Are they all in a realm that they have
Speaker 1: to fight their way back? That's my first thought is
Speaker 1: they're all joined in a realm where they're going to
Speaker 1: see each other in some weird lavender filter and they're
Speaker 1: all gonna I know nothing, I'm making this up, and
Speaker 1: they're all going to have to find their way back.
Speaker 1: On the meantime, clearly Tony starts going to take point
Speaker 1: and try and rally everyone, and then we don't know
Speaker 1: how clearly Captain Marvel's gonna factor into it. So and
Speaker 1: we have the clues of of Strange making the decision
Speaker 1: he makes exactly which which makes Tony so important. But
Speaker 1: I'm I'm telling you that, but then then Strange disappear.
Speaker 1: So like I said, doctor Strange is my co star
Speaker 1: of the film. He's you canna understand the doctor Strange
Speaker 1: comments while we're growing up Frank Brunner, Marshall Rogers, Paul Smith,
Speaker 1: Michael Golden. Some of the best art and stories ever
Speaker 1: produced with that character. And uh, I'm such I adore
Speaker 1: that character and seeing how he was portrayed and how
Speaker 1: powerful and how just I love when we said, actually,
Speaker 1: can I say that I like combabout with the American
Speaker 1: accent better. I'm sorry. He I love when he talks.
Speaker 1: When he talks smack to Tony, starkins like, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm maybe the one person who doesn't work for you,
Speaker 1: douche bag. I was like, wow, hearing that was great,
Speaker 1: that was great. I was get to the Deadpool, get Pool.
Speaker 1: I want to start, you know, like, yeah, I know
Speaker 1: the history. I know, I know Ryan's history of trying
Speaker 1: to make it happen. I know the history of the
Speaker 1: various companies that tried to put something together. But all
Speaker 1: of that being said, you're the guy to ask why
Speaker 1: did it take so long to get a faithful rendition
Speaker 1: of this character on the screen, And even whenever that
Speaker 1: written version was greenlit, there was trepidation. There was I'll
Speaker 1: do it, I'll jump on the sword, I'll do it.
Speaker 1: I you know, I don't really work in the movie business.
Speaker 1: I don't or this is not I'm a comic book creator.
Speaker 1: I derive of my income from comic books and the
Speaker 1: comic book world, so I kind of have always been
Speaker 1: able to navigate and speak freely. And the answer is
Speaker 1: towards Tom Rothman. Tom Rothman, ladies and gentlemen, he is
Speaker 1: now the president of Sony. I wish him well, good
Speaker 1: for you. Uh. He's a canny uh operator in the business,
Speaker 1: obviously very smart, produced a lot of movies. I had
Speaker 1: a one on one meeting with him when I had
Speaker 1: a project Will Smith, and um, when he CONTs in
Speaker 1: his mind to dismiss something, he was very dismissive towards us.
Speaker 1: I am sitting with Will Smith, the biggest star of
Speaker 1: two summers. Will Smith has give granted me his favor, said,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna attach myself to your screenplay. The project was
Speaker 1: called The Mark. We went and saw all of the
Speaker 1: different studio heads over a two day period. Very exciting,
Speaker 1: great memory. Will was as charismatic, as devoted as uh,
Speaker 1: just compassionate about the project. But we probably didn't make
Speaker 1: it through ten minutes and Rothman dismissed it. I didn't
Speaker 1: see it. Organ not gonna happen, not with him, not
Speaker 1: with anybody. And we were gone. And uh, uh you
Speaker 1: know the funny thing is, over the years, Rhett and
Speaker 1: Paul recent Paul Wernick and Tim Miller, if I can
Speaker 1: show you some of the crazy pants ideas that were
Speaker 1: being tossed around about how to get this movie attention
Speaker 1: enough to get it made. Uh, this is post the footage.
Speaker 1: You understand it when Tim Tim came on and uh,
Speaker 1: I read the script in twenty and was blown away.
Speaker 1: I love the nonlinear aspects, all the stuff that stayed
Speaker 1: in the movie, the R rate, the R rated nature
Speaker 1: of all of it, how the raunch, the violence. I
Speaker 1: just said, people will eat this up. They've never seen
Speaker 1: anything like this. And when you read it, it was
Speaker 1: a small movie. It seemed like a small, right out
Speaker 1: of film school Tarantino movie because there was not a
Speaker 1: lot of big in it. But it was relentless. It
Speaker 1: was funny, it was paste wonderfully, and so I read it.
Speaker 1: I had started campaigning for it online. It got a
Speaker 1: lot of juice. I got some websites to carry it.
Speaker 1: I thought, I'm trying to be a good soldier here,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to help. Uh. Right after the script came in,
Speaker 1: Rothman just was not committal. But I didn't allow it
Speaker 1: to die. I can tell you I'm not. It's not
Speaker 1: my story to tell you all the directors that passed
Speaker 1: on it, but I got some juicy ones um and
Speaker 1: I would always contact Rhet. What what did he say?
Speaker 1: I didn't get good because Raett was my point guy. Uh.
Speaker 1: But when I saw the movie other day, I I
Speaker 1: I talked to Ryan and then immediately called Rhet because
Speaker 1: he always was really kind to me and was always
Speaker 1: keeping me in the know. And I said in the email,
Speaker 1: You've always been my point guy. You've always told me so,
Speaker 1: I just want to tell you how great Deadpool two
Speaker 1: came out from being in an end. But Rhett would
Speaker 1: always on me, oh, this guy wasn't in. This guy
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know, some of these directors
Speaker 1: should have directly dead Pool. But I'm glad they didn't
Speaker 1: because Tim did and it was great. So Tim comes
Speaker 1: on board. I get a phone call. I'm coaching my
Speaker 1: kids flag football team and I get a phone call
Speaker 1: and I don't know the number, and I picked it
Speaker 1: up and he said, Hey, Rob, I'm Tim Miller. This
Speaker 1: is uh when introduced myself, I got your number. I
Speaker 1: hoping to mind I'm doing Deadpool. I want to, you know,
Speaker 1: just make contact with you and and and get you
Speaker 1: in into the process. So I was there the day
Speaker 1: that they shot the um the two Minute Teezer and uh,
Speaker 1: I'm like, look at this all green screen and guys
Speaker 1: you know with with with broom sticks. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was just crazy. And they showed me what was doing
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna tell you, I'm like, this is it.
Speaker 1: When I saw the finished I'm like, this is it's
Speaker 1: getting green light. It's getting a green light. That's that's
Speaker 1: I'm like, we're gonna drink, We're getting the green light.
Speaker 1: It's happening, and uh, yeah, that didn't happen. And he
Speaker 1: he was kind enough to let me come up to
Speaker 1: Bluer Studios, which at that point was it's in Culver
Speaker 1: City now, but for where it was then Uh, maybe
Speaker 1: Manhattan Beach and uh come up to and he had
Speaker 1: the great theater room, and I would just I'd bring
Speaker 1: friends all the time, and we lived off of the
Speaker 1: two and a half minute footage. Uh. So nothing seemed
Speaker 1: to push Rothman over the edge. I thought for sure
Speaker 1: when he saw how great Deadpool looked and moved and
Speaker 1: and and now the jokes you know, came off and
Speaker 1: just the combination. I thought it was because of the
Speaker 1: movie never had a big budget, but for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: we had an opponent to the film. And when he
Speaker 1: left Fox, uh is I can tell you I was
Speaker 1: standing behind uh and entering into an after party, fortunate
Speaker 1: enough to be at one of these after parties, and
Speaker 1: I Jim Gianopolis, who was the president of Fox and
Speaker 1: green Light. Deadpools now at Paramount, and I have a
Speaker 1: movie called Vangeline about a fallen angel at Paramount. So
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to make all these connections. I said, Jim, Hey,
Speaker 1: it's Rob, because I had seen him to end of
Speaker 1: the Deadpool process, certainly on the promotional tour and everything.
Speaker 1: And he goes Rob Hey, and I said, I just
Speaker 1: want to thank you again for pulling the trigger and
Speaker 1: making dead Pool, and he goes Rob and James Gunn
Speaker 1: if you're listening here, I'm gonna go on record. Jim
Speaker 1: goes Rob, you know what really what really convinced us
Speaker 1: was Guardians. When Guardians of the Galaxies he opened, it
Speaker 1: was so big. And that Monday at our meeting, Emma
Speaker 1: put the Deadpool script on the table and said, you know,
Speaker 1: we've got that right here. We've got that right here.
Speaker 1: Emma is the president production and she goes, ours is
Speaker 1: a little runch here, we can do this with an
Speaker 1: R rated tinge to it, and Jim goes, uh. I
Speaker 1: just Guardians really showed us what what we could do
Speaker 1: and what was we were capable of. It's funny because
Speaker 1: I've had a lot of my agent, my manager, They've
Speaker 1: always said Guardians. Guardians kicked that door wide opening. So
Speaker 1: I'm gonna tell you, man, that's end of. That's end of.
Speaker 1: And still didn't get a green light for a year, dude,
Speaker 1: So like it's this was crazy. So there's your long
Speaker 1: But man, I just sewed together about six years in
Speaker 1: about fifteen minutes. But I'm telling you, man, I literally
Speaker 1: I'll tell you how completely uh numb and disassociated with it.
Speaker 1: I had become was so. The footage leaks after San
Speaker 1: Diego perfectly. Everyone gets home from San Diego. It's about
Speaker 1: ten thirty at night Pacific. That means every sandeens at
Speaker 1: five o'clock. If you're on the West coast, takes three
Speaker 1: hours to get them. Anyway, if you're on the East coast,
Speaker 1: you're you're settled down and you're the show is over.
Speaker 1: You have access to your computer, you're gonna get hit
Speaker 1: by a tweet boom. The foot the most brilliant leak
Speaker 1: ever constructed. In my opinion, everyone suddenly did. People comes
Speaker 1: to talk of the convention circuit, and I thought, give
Speaker 1: us seventy two hours. We're gonna we're gonna get a
Speaker 1: green light. Right. Still nothing. About six weeks later, I'm
Speaker 1: upstairs in my artists loft where I work, and my
Speaker 1: kid runs up to me. My teeth so he's fifteen. Dad, Dad,
Speaker 1: they're making Deadpool, Dad, Dad, they're making tad Pool. I said, son, No, no, no,
Speaker 1: that's just a bad rumor. I saw that the other
Speaker 1: day too, Son, that's not true. No, Dad, Dad, it's
Speaker 1: Deadline dot com. They're making Deadpool. And I'm telling you,
Speaker 1: I get I get a little emotional because I did.
Speaker 1: I cried, I think like a baby. I was like
Speaker 1: and it wasn't just for me, man, it was for
Speaker 1: Tim and Rhett and Paul and everybody who had been
Speaker 1: along this process. That script, the script you saw is
Speaker 1: written in like that's that's six years. Most of the
Speaker 1: most stuff like that, scripts that sit in language for
Speaker 1: five six years. Even if they're champion, they don't make it.
Speaker 1: They don't. They fall by the wayside. We are so
Speaker 1: lucky that no one ever came into the rewrite. Did
Speaker 1: two rewrites did well, I've got a new direction on
Speaker 1: dead Fool. They stuck with the source material. And uh
Speaker 1: so that was I mean, and I send like literally,
Speaker 1: I was still dismissing him, and he ran up. He
Speaker 1: literally shoved his iPad in front of my face to
Speaker 1: show me deadline dot Com. And that's when in Tim's like,
Speaker 1: we're making it happen, dude, And I mean, so then
Speaker 1: that's I think that's October, late September, October, and then
Speaker 1: I mean they're they're shooting in February. So it suddenly
Speaker 1: went from never happening. What's interesting, too, is just predating
Speaker 1: all of that. The glimpses we got of them in
Speaker 1: visual media, I mean morph turning into him on the
Speaker 1: animated series. Everybody's like, well that was Deadpool for a second.
Speaker 1: That was awesome. You know, little things like that, Oh
Speaker 1: look I get all that. I'll get all the receipts,
Speaker 1: all the toys. Deadpool was in plastic from all the
Speaker 1: way through you know present, I mean all the statues,
Speaker 1: all the action figures. And then I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 1: that the great thing. And this was so funny because
Speaker 1: I would never be douchey and tell my kids, oh,
Speaker 1: your dad made this and that. No that's not They
Speaker 1: didn't even process their five and they're three or their
Speaker 1: seven and their five. Um where they got to know
Speaker 1: Deadpool was there was a run from two thousand eight toleven.
Speaker 1: Marvel put him in Ultimate Alliance. He was an unlockable character.
Speaker 1: He was hysterical, action packed everybody who have to plan
Speaker 1: and then he was a level on I think Spiderman
Speaker 1: Dark Something Dark Universe. He was like level four the
Speaker 1: Deadpool level. Then U what broke him through? Because it
Speaker 1: was a Saturday afternoon. I had gone out to lunch.
Speaker 1: I came back. Every kid in the neighborhood is piled
Speaker 1: on our couches and their playing the uh the Xbox,
Speaker 1: and it's Deadpool battling Deadpool on the Marvel versus Capcom
Speaker 1: because I went out and bought that game. My kids
Speaker 1: obviously they love they love Marvel video games. So you
Speaker 1: got Ultimate Alliance. Also Cable was in that too, but
Speaker 1: you got Deadpool and Marvel Ltimate Alliance, the Spider Man game.
Speaker 1: And then I'm telling you, man, Marvel versus Capcom, I
Speaker 1: don't know cap Comma, I don't know a single kid
Speaker 1: who didn't love playing a dead He was monster in
Speaker 1: that game. And uh breaks out the giant gun. Yes,
Speaker 1: the same thing, and and and so as you said,
Speaker 1: thank you for like, Deadpool lived in all media except film,
Speaker 1: except film. He was statues, t shirts, clothes, apparel. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, man, I give a shout out to
Speaker 1: the cause players. I really I felt like they were
Speaker 1: um keeping around two thousand six, man, they started showing up,
Speaker 1: and then it really built to a crest in the
Speaker 1: late two thousand's. Uh. And now you can't go to
Speaker 1: a show and see I'll see thirty dead Pools every
Speaker 1: show I go to. And there are characters who maybe
Speaker 1: had tracks and two three years ago, they're not out
Speaker 1: there anymore because caused players like to move on and
Speaker 1: do a new character. Deadpool is that army is strong.
Speaker 1: That army is strong. Let's talk about the new movie
Speaker 1: a little bit. Like I said, three of your enduring
Speaker 1: creations in this dead Pool Cable Domino shatter Star. She
Speaker 1: had started in the commercial you can't you can't hide
Speaker 1: him right, I mean, I thought it was a secret.
Speaker 1: And then I woke up eight o'clock one morning and
Speaker 1: there's the commercial I'm shotters. I'm like, Okay, I guess
Speaker 1: we're not hiding that anymore. Um. Also, we're in a
Speaker 1: backround Vanessa that that that she she is. And and
Speaker 1: right after Wolverene origins, I was invited up to the
Speaker 1: Daughter production officers because they wanted to get dea pol right.
Speaker 1: They realized right afterwards day, so they called my agent.
Speaker 1: My agent put me in the room, very exciting afternoon
Speaker 1: kind of breaking story ideas and telling them. I mean,
Speaker 1: I couldn't believe the words came out of my mouth.
Speaker 1: Don't po cable in the first dead Point movie. If
Speaker 1: you can do deer movie, don't weigh him down. That's
Speaker 1: too much information. Stand and what they said, Rob, do
Speaker 1: we have his um romance against just be Vanessa or Siren?
Speaker 1: And I said, Vanessa, it's got to be the NSA,
Speaker 1: don't you again? Sirens? Complicated? She has she has obvious
Speaker 1: superhours a lineas to one of like basic, just keep
Speaker 1: it basic. And then Marianna Bocker and is just that
Speaker 1: chemistry between Ryan and her, Wade and Vanessa is gold.
Speaker 1: So I mean, look, I love seeing them all. It
Speaker 1: throws me, but this, it does seem like a a
Speaker 1: smaller sport of life, felt it must question Christic. I
Speaker 1: could not be more excited now. It did not come out.
Speaker 1: It didn't come about gray hairs along the way. The
Speaker 1: casting of Cable and Domino stressed me out. Stressed me
Speaker 1: out like a few things have ever stressed me out
Speaker 1: because you don't want to get it wrong like I
Speaker 1: and I would practice. How am I going to conduct
Speaker 1: myself if someone I can't stand is cast as Cable?
Speaker 1: Because I'm gonna get you haven't lived until nine, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for about six years year I go to conventions. I'm
Speaker 1: in the public. Hey, what's up with Wolfrine Orangins? Sicker Wood?
Speaker 1: That becomes your calling card and you have to and
Speaker 1: you know, I see I rehearsed it. I rehearsed it.
Speaker 1: Even that summer two said, well, you know, it's a start.
Speaker 1: It's just a start. It's not the end of the journey.
Speaker 1: It's just a start. We're gonna get there. We're gonna
Speaker 1: get And even I was like, oh, if I say
Speaker 1: it's a start one more time, I'm gonna pass out
Speaker 1: because I don't know that it's a start. But I'm spinning.
Speaker 1: I'm spinning it. So I'm like, how am I gonna
Speaker 1: spin if somebody I can't stand gets to be cable? Um,
Speaker 1: And so I I feel like we hit the lot,
Speaker 1: the lotto with Josh Brolin is doing some interesting stuff
Speaker 1: to make it. You know, it looks like he looks
Speaker 1: a little different, you know than your condition obviously. Uh.
Speaker 1: You know it's he's got that sweet haircut, he's got
Speaker 1: the hips, but there's that scarred there's that going on,
Speaker 1: and there's that awesome cybernetic arm which looks it's great
Speaker 1: to finally see him, and he's really um, he's I
Speaker 1: I can't imagine anybody along the way, And trust me,
Speaker 1: there weren't there weren't a whole lot of them that
Speaker 1: I thought were the right because I mean we're talking
Speaker 1: forty plus actors and guys you never heard of. Guys
Speaker 1: you heard of that, you never heard how deep they
Speaker 1: petitioned because because the wrestlers put it out there on
Speaker 1: the front street that they wanted to be cable. So
Speaker 1: who were serving? Who were some of those? Um? Who
Speaker 1: was it? Well? Um blank, And I'm blanking, but certainly, um,
Speaker 1: I love him. He's not a restaurant obviously a good actor.
Speaker 1: Is that. The avatar guy Stephen lank Ron Chroman petitioned
Speaker 1: that I'm missing the sports personalities. I'm just blanking right now,
Speaker 1: But there were there were guys who were out there
Speaker 1: banging the drums and I should be considered look at me,
Speaker 1: And I'm like, let's not look at you, and that's
Speaker 1: not gonna happen. Let please, please, let's all go the build. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Josh is great. He's so great in his chemistry with Ryan,
Speaker 1: with with with Wade is It's terrific. But I gotta
Speaker 1: tell you, Um, I do not think audiences are ready
Speaker 1: for how much they are gonna walk out and be
Speaker 1: in love with zazzy beats as Domino she is, She's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: She's it's not how she looks, it's how it's how
Speaker 1: she plays. She's I I really, um just I'm like,
Speaker 1: people don't know that they have. They've they've they've hinted
Speaker 1: at her, but they haven't given you the full breadth.
Speaker 1: And I gotta tell you, man, that's like the Wizards
Speaker 1: in the Fox, you know, marketing and Ryan and the
Speaker 1: fact that they keep showing you, like two minutes of
Speaker 1: the movie, just some different angles and making you think
Speaker 1: you're seeing all of it. It's great because they're not
Speaker 1: showing you, like Law, most of the movie has remain hidden,
Speaker 1: which for me, I think it matters. They worked, they
Speaker 1: want they wanted to keep it under wraps, and so
Speaker 1: it's good. It's good stuff. You're gonna have fun. I
Speaker 1: just want to get into two more things before I
Speaker 1: let you go. Your Extreme Universe. You know, you get
Speaker 1: to deal with Netflix developing it with Kiva Gold. Yes,
Speaker 1: he's winning screenwriter, producer. You know, I'm not sure what
Speaker 1: you can talk about, what you want to talk about?
Speaker 1: What what? What there is to talk about? What I'm
Speaker 1: curious about is you know this is gonna be your
Speaker 1: characters like Blood Strike brigade y cybrid kabooms, Yes, those guys. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's a set family of characters. Are you interested in
Speaker 1: writing new characters into this universe? Like? What kind of
Speaker 1: writing would you do on this project? You know what?
Speaker 1: I have a the for about three years. My manager,
Speaker 1: he Let Batrick, my manager has represented writers for the
Speaker 1: last decade. He's really good with breaking stories scripts. He's
Speaker 1: for about four years. I just tutored under him and
Speaker 1: I and I and I read. I wrote probably four
Speaker 1: or five screenplays and uh and he would you know,
Speaker 1: really come at me, reapproach, re approach the stuff that
Speaker 1: the last thing I wrote was a reject screenplay because
Speaker 1: I figured, I know this, I know exactly the voice
Speaker 1: I wanted to have in this. I want I know
Speaker 1: that angle and uh, that is is going to be
Speaker 1: something that I you know, I've told the key, but
Speaker 1: this is the one I'm in a champion from my perspective.
Speaker 1: Buddy Kiba also said to me, Rob, I'm very difficult
Speaker 1: on writers. And as he's saying that, you're looking at
Speaker 1: the oscar over his shoulder on the mantel, um, Yeah,
Speaker 1: you kind of want an Academy Award for being a
Speaker 1: brilliant writer. I get it. Uh so you know, I
Speaker 1: mean there's there's a writer's room that's being uh selected
Speaker 1: right now. When it gets announced, it'll you know when
Speaker 1: everyone is signed, because again you call and your solicit people,
Speaker 1: but they have to see if they have the openings
Speaker 1: and then make the deals. Uh you know, as as
Speaker 1: your guys, as your listeners, no doubt are aware any
Speaker 1: deal that you here took a year to make. I
Speaker 1: mean this Netflix. Uh. First of all, Kiva is very passionate.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like I'm in any hurry going back
Speaker 1: to being a compona person to sell any of my stuff. Short,
Speaker 1: I don't need to cash out on my characters. I
Speaker 1: feel I feel like I've protected them for twenty five years.
Speaker 1: I'll continue to protect them. There were a couple opportunities
Speaker 1: that I really wasn't thrilled about, but I was told
Speaker 1: to consider, and I kind of went down that path
Speaker 1: and I didn't like where it led. And but Akiva
Speaker 1: was still there, and uh, when I met with him,
Speaker 1: he sold me on his passion. He came at me
Speaker 1: with a pitch for Eventeline that sold me in the room,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, it's just enough. It's just different enough
Speaker 1: but completely retains the original, but it's got a fresh
Speaker 1: approach that uh we He and I made that deal
Speaker 1: like forty eight hours later, and Paramount bought it like
Speaker 1: seventy two hours later. So I believe in Akiva and
Speaker 1: I also a huge fan of uh the stuff he's
Speaker 1: done with Star Trek Discovery and the reason I'm bringing
Speaker 1: this up. He was like telling me how how much
Speaker 1: pressure it was to launch a genre show for the
Speaker 1: streaming platform. I mean, there was the Good Fight and
Speaker 1: then there was Star Trek Discovery, and Star Trek Discovery
Speaker 1: obviously had a giant priority because of what it is,
Speaker 1: and uh, that was a huge success for CBS and
Speaker 1: the Star Trek franchise. And then the funny thing is
Speaker 1: I am the co creator of the female Dove, Don Granger,
Speaker 1: and he had a Dove statue when I walked in
Speaker 1: and told me I'm doing the Titans show, and uh,
Speaker 1: I would be on the set with him. Uh. Today
Speaker 1: we're not for all the Deadpool press I'm doing because
Speaker 1: they're doing another very heavy Hawk and Dove episode. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know Akiva is he speaks fluent comic book. Uh.
Speaker 1: In between Star Trek and between Titans and watching him
Speaker 1: work and watching his passion and Titans is now going
Speaker 1: to launch the DC streaming network. So it's like he
Speaker 1: speaks streaming extremely well. He's become like the top showrunner
Speaker 1: in that field. And so when when he said, Rob,
Speaker 1: I want you to consider Netflix, I said, no, no, no no,
Speaker 1: I don't need to consider it. It's done. Let's do
Speaker 1: Let's do Netflix, because I believe there's two I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go back and you're gonna go. Rob really obsessed with kids.
Speaker 1: They're teenagers. They are trend setters. You watch what they do.
Speaker 1: They are always on their devices. It kills me that
Speaker 1: they watch movies on iPhones, but I've given over, like
Speaker 1: that's their generation and iPads. I mean, they're always in
Speaker 1: their consuming in the and it's Netflix. Netflix is everything
Speaker 1: in them, the Marvel Shows, Stranger Things. So I could not.
Speaker 1: I was like, once Netflix enter the picture, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: tell you right now, there was no way I was
Speaker 1: not landing on network. Absolutely. I mean, and you know
Speaker 1: everyone's eager for a shared universes. Netflix is right to
Speaker 1: have something like this on there. I believe that the
Speaker 1: Disney Fox deal helped m help them go. Maybe we
Speaker 1: should have more. I mean, it was a really right time,
Speaker 1: right place, right people together. Um, the film division over there,
Speaker 1: because again these aren't TV series, these are each we
Speaker 1: have five five movie deal to escalate our universe and
Speaker 1: build it over Netflix, and I'm gonna take man. I
Speaker 1: love what they're doing in film was going to be
Speaker 1: the first one out of the gate. There. You think
Speaker 1: when that's decided, we may be wrestling over that. And
Speaker 1: again i've i've I I have a good amount of say,
Speaker 1: but I defer to akivas Um wisdom in his thirty
Speaker 1: years in this business, people forget also accupated Fringe. Um
Speaker 1: also directed a lot of those Fringe episodes. Um, he's
Speaker 1: he's a genre guy. That's what he does. And I
Speaker 1: couldn't be thrilled to be more thrilled to be in
Speaker 1: business with him. And also, like I said, Netflix, and
Speaker 1: it may have been your magazine Variety that I just
Speaker 1: laughed because I stay at my house all the time.
Speaker 1: But it's better when Variety says it and I can
Speaker 1: show my kids. I said, Uh, why Marvel and Netflix
Speaker 1: are the future? Uh or the two biggest brands entertainment.
Speaker 1: I'm like and I'm in both. Yes, Like families. That
Speaker 1: might have been something I wrote because something of the
Speaker 1: Russo's was saying, Joe Russo was talking about Marvel and
Speaker 1: story you guy, and I'm like, I'm living this and
Speaker 1: it's exciting and uh Netflix was that? Was that that?
Speaker 1: Because again, it's the future to me. They've only just
Speaker 1: started to find their way and I'm thrilled to be
Speaker 1: a part of it. Well, let me just wrap up
Speaker 1: by uh, you know last year anniversary of Image was
Speaker 1: the last year it was. Yeah, and I was I
Speaker 1: was telling you earlier. I was a big Image guy.
Speaker 1: I collected every first issue that first year and a
Speaker 1: half two years. I've got trench Er, I've got tribe,
Speaker 1: I've got loving and I've got profit, I've got I love,
Speaker 1: I've got all of it. Uh, just any brief thoughts
Speaker 1: on I mean, I'm sure you were asked about this
Speaker 1: plenty last year, but just in the limelight, the wake
Speaker 1: of the Image Comics kind of lightning bolt that it was.
Speaker 1: It could not be prouder of Image Comics, should not
Speaker 1: be prouder of what we accomplished. I can't tell you
Speaker 1: how many people uh stopped me in the last six
Speaker 1: months and tell me they saw the episode on AMC
Speaker 1: that Robert Kirkman produced about the formation of Image Comics,
Speaker 1: I think it was. You know, you're talking about seven
Speaker 1: guys who decided they were going to rest on their laurels.
Speaker 1: You understand, I had just sold five million copies of
Speaker 1: X Force. Jim Lee had sold eight million copies of
Speaker 1: X Men. That came. We were living on the top
Speaker 1: of the charts. We were getting the biggest paychecks in
Speaker 1: the business. And back then that's a lot of royalties.
Speaker 1: Royalties on five million issues is a lot of money.
Speaker 1: And to say I'm gonna go over here, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: become uncomfortable. I'm gonna go against uh, the two big
Speaker 1: publishers because we're gonna be seen as hostile, which we were.
Speaker 1: And shaking up the industry was the funnest, most fun
Speaker 1: I ever had in my life. We we were dumb, stupid,
Speaker 1: but we had talent and we had a voice, and
Speaker 1: we knew exactly like we knew our audience, your audience
Speaker 1: really well, and our audience carried us. And we had
Speaker 1: to find you know, suddenly I'm running a company and
Speaker 1: Jim's running a company, and to run a company and
Speaker 1: you know, at the at the peak of extreme studios,
Speaker 1: I had sixty six employees, three shifts for the color department.
Speaker 1: But and and the great thing is nobody ever wanted
Speaker 1: to go home because it was a giant clubhouse. And uh,
Speaker 1: but we made some really great stories. Again the content, uh,
Speaker 1: the cane enable that are in Blood Strike and Brigade
Speaker 1: with the two Stone brothers, Cabot Stone and John Stone. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's explored. That's that's a big piece of the of
Speaker 1: of the movies, that that you have a cane enable
Speaker 1: in comics. That it's it's something that you don't find
Speaker 1: that no other universe has this, this dynamic two brothers
Speaker 1: with these giant you know, weapons at their disposal, these
Speaker 1: two different departments that can go to war and wage
Speaker 1: war with each other. And why do they hate each other?
Speaker 1: And why aren't there friends and all that stuff. But
Speaker 1: image comics, you got Saga, you got Walking Dead. You don't,
Speaker 1: you don't, you don't know what's coming out next? Five Girls,
Speaker 1: Paper Girls, which I got Brian Vaughn. I love you.
Speaker 1: I prefer Paper Girls. I love Saga. That's how good
Speaker 1: Paper Girls is. I think it's so good. But I
Speaker 1: think it's what all these other I won't name names,
Speaker 1: but some of these nostalgia plays I think want to
Speaker 1: be Yeah, okay, I don't say so. Anyway, The thing
Speaker 1: is it's a great place still for creators to uh
Speaker 1: expand And whether it's Rick Reminder who's doing this thing
Speaker 1: with with the Russo's Deadly Class, or you got Donny
Speaker 1: Kates who blown up at Marvel right now, but he
Speaker 1: blew up an image first with with God Country and uh,
Speaker 1: I forget his Vampire book, but it's great. Uh. Stuff
Speaker 1: like that I've heard is in that some people are
Speaker 1: interested in making. You know, whatever image property makes it
Speaker 1: to the screen first is going to be significant. IM
Speaker 1: see Walking dead beat everybody. But you know, maybe it's spawned,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe it's maybe it's your in the new world
Speaker 1: again that that's that's that's different it is it is,
Speaker 1: it's a different world. Um I really count like I
Speaker 1: count X Men Singers, x Men first movie as the
Speaker 1: beginning of the new eighth than than Iron Man two
Speaker 1: eight is the beginning of the current age, and maybe
Speaker 1: Infinity Wars closing it up, or maybe Deadpool two is
Speaker 1: opening up the new chapter, you know, I mean, and
Speaker 1: there's an opportunity there with the image stuff. To have
Speaker 1: a shared I mean obviously you guys had your five terms,
Speaker 1: but like you know, to have a shared thing with
Speaker 1: those those O g s. Yeah, well, we'll see how
Speaker 1: the entertainment attorneys. They don't always hey me and no,
Speaker 1: that's not how it works. I mean, we can't do
Speaker 1: the crossover because we took a handshake deal. No, um no.
Speaker 1: I just think Image image comics. You know. The thing is,
Speaker 1: I look at the market share came out the other day.
Speaker 1: Image Comics is as strong as it's been in the
Speaker 1: last year. It's got ten percent of the market. Uh,
Speaker 1: number three, behind behind Marvel and d C, which they've
Speaker 1: had a lot of competition over the last fifteen years.
Speaker 1: You Boom, everybody's throwing everything they can to try and
Speaker 1: get that. And and I think image in the independence
Speaker 1: if you put Boom and this is not a slight
Speaker 1: to these guys. They're all doing hard work and they're
Speaker 1: doing good books. But I U W. Boom, dark Horse
Speaker 1: and maybe Dynamite combined aren't of image. So it's just
Speaker 1: easy to overlook. Thank you for bringing it up. Uh,
Speaker 1: the image of the nineties. I meet those kids, those
Speaker 1: kids who are now adults, with their with their their
Speaker 1: children who are passing their love on. And trust me,
Speaker 1: I get tons of questions about young Blood and Profit
Speaker 1: because they also because it's now the culture. If it's
Speaker 1: not on screen, I can't know. Being on screen is
Speaker 1: the ultimate trophy. They want to see what they loved.
Speaker 1: I hate to say validated, but I think that's how
Speaker 1: they look at it. Um And uh, look, man, the
Speaker 1: great thing is I both young Wood and Profit are
Speaker 1: heavily pursued at this moment um. And I'm taking my
Speaker 1: time sorting that out. I've learned from Marvel. Go slow, Uh,
Speaker 1: don't don't rush into something. Uh just same thing. Netflix
Speaker 1: almost a two year you know, deal to the idea,
Speaker 1: to to deal. You gotta have patience as the world changes.
Speaker 1: But and we live in this Marvel dominated film world,
Speaker 1: you know, so so other outlets are important. Netflix is
Speaker 1: like the image comics. That's just hit me, Like the
Speaker 1: image comics of entertainment doing their own thing. Well, on
Speaker 1: that note, I'm gonna have Rob sign my copy of
Speaker 1: Young Blood number one. Everyone should check out Deadpool two.
Speaker 1: It opens me eighteen and there's all of it. Just
Speaker 1: want to thank you again man for coming on my show.
Speaker 1: This is really cool. This is great. Thanks for having Man.
Speaker 1: Thank you