How did the producers of Deadpool get away with digs at the studio?

Question

I am pretty sure most people are familiar with the 4th wall breaks in Deadpool, and all 23 of them are gratefully written up here. (spoilers in the link)

One in particular seemed far above all the other digs at the studio. Referring to cuts in their budget, when Deadpool goes to the X-Men house to recruit Colossus he says;

"Wow, this is such a big house, but I only ever see the two of you here. It’s like the studio didn’t have enough money for any more X-Men."

Why did the studio allow this content to be put in the movie?

@DrunkCynic. Reasonably familiar. I was just curious as how that was allowed even though that is Deadpool's character — KyloRen, May 29 '16 at 05:26
Why do you think it wouldn't be allowed? Suggesting that the studio wanted to cut costs is one of the least biting jokes I could imagine making at their expense, it's not like they were calling the head of the studio an incompetent idiot or anything. I think the joke is funny because it's about how movie scripts often have some contrived elements that are there solely for budget reasons, not because it's a harsh criticism of the studio. — Hypnosifl, May 29 '16 at 05:48
@KyloRen Well, it's Deadpool's character... so... that's how that was allowed. — Misha R, May 29 '16 at 06:19
Probably because the studio recognised a money maker when it saw the reaction to the leaked Deadpool test footage: http://www.cinemablend.com/new/How-Leaked-Deadpool-Footage-Changed-Superhero-Fate-67318.html - with that kind of backing I think the producers could gave gotten away with almost anything. — , May 29 '16 at 06:31
I actually see this line as a positive for the film. It was blatantly obvious that they couldn't afford any major x-men. Lots of movies have been criticised for a similar thing, Deadpool's line changes it from a negative point in the movie into a hilarious and memorable joke. I feel it benefited the movie greatly. — Matthew Stevenson, May 29 '16 at 06:44
@MatthewStevenson. I absolutely agree, and was very glad they did leave it in as it enables the fans a small bit of satisfaction. Which is why I was very happy and surprised when I heard it. — KyloRen, May 29 '16 at 06:48
It's called "hanging a lantern/lamp on it." By drawing attention to a plot hole or other shortcoming, it becomes part of the story and thus OK in the audience's mind. Fortunately, Deadpool's character makes it easy to do. — John Sensebe, Jun 19 '16 at 16:00
This is a couple of years late, but it should be noted that it wasn't unheard of for Fox TV shows to make fun of the Fox network as well. The Simpsons had numerous jokes at Murdoch and the Fox execs expense and Married With Children had the "Fox viewing positions" joke (referencing that the majority of early Fox TV broadcasters were lower power UHF stations that sometimes required some antenna adjusting to receive the OTA signals) — pboss3010, Nov 27 '18 at 14:51

score 16 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

Given the expense involved in licensing recognisable X-Men (and the need to strip over $10m from the budget less than two months before filming started) the writers were forced to scrape the bottom of the barrel as far as X-Men were concerned.

We went through such hell developing the script and which X-Men we could keep and which we couldn’t and it just turned into a nightmare. The studio would just say, ‘too expensive, too expensive, too expensive’ to everyone. So finally we were like well, “What about Negasonic Teenage Warhead” and they said, “Negasonic, what?”

_{^{Everything That Was Too Expensive to Include in Deadpool}}

Having winnowed the number of X-Men down to just two, they then needed to find a way to explain the bizarre lack of X-Men in a film explicitly set inside the X-Men Cinematic Universe.

Rather than contriving a plot-point to explain their absence, the writers went for the lazier option of simply having Wade 'hang a lampshade on it', telling audiences directly that it was a finance thing. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't work, but luckily Deadpool is renowned for breaking the fourth wall and speaking to viewers in a funny way.

How did the producers of Deadpool get away with digs at the studio?

1 Answers1