10 Actors Who Perfected Roles YEARS Before The Movie
2. Ryan Reynolds Voiced Deadpool In 2012 Test Footage - Deadpool
Though there's no denying that Ryan Reynolds' first pass at Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a near-total bust, that was 100% the fault of a script which simply didn't even respect the character enough to keep his mouth open, outrageously sewing it shut in the film's shambolic third act.
But Reynolds found himself thoroughly redeemed when he played the part in an R-rated solo movie in 2016, which between its phenomenal critical and commercial success cemented the fourth wall-breaking superhero as a pop-culture icon.
Yet this version of Deadpool was many years in the making, and only got the greenlight from Fox after a still-unidentified party leaked CGI test footage commissioned by the studio in mid-2014. The rapturous online response caused Fox to fast-track Deadpool into production, and the rest is history.
But the footage itself was actually created back in 2012 by director Tim Miller for "a low-six-figure budget," with Reynolds providing his now-signature voiceover as the superhero.
Considering the total parity between Reynolds' voiceover in the 2012 footage and the 2016 movie, he clearly had the character down pat long before the cameras finally started rolling on the film.