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Deadpool is a 2016 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comicscharacter of the same name. Distributed by 20th Century Fox, it is a spin-off in the X-Men film series and the eighth installment overall. Directed by Tim Millerfrom a screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, it stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role alongside Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T. J. Miller, Gina Carano, and Brianna Hildebrand. In the film, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him mutant abilities and a scarred physical appearance, becoming the antiheroDeadpool.

Development of a Deadpool film starring Reynolds began in February 2004, before he played the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009. Reese and Wernick were hired for a spinoff in 2010 and worked with Reynolds to adapt the character more faithfully (including his fourth wall breaking) after the portrayal in Wolverine was criticized. Miller was hired in 2011, marking his directorial debut. An enthusiastic response to leaked test footage he created with Reynolds led to a green-light from Fox in 2014. Additional casting began in early 2015, and filming took place in Vancouver, British Columbia, from March to May of that year. Several vendors provided visual effects for the film, ranging from the addition of blood and gore to the creation of the CG character Colossus.

Deadpool was released in the United States on February 12, 2016, after an unconventional marketing campaign. The film achieved both financial and critical success. It earned over $782 million against a $58 million budget, becoming the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2016 and breaking numerous records, including highest-grossing X-Men film and R-rated film at the time. Critics praised Reynolds' performance, the film's style and faithfulness to the comics, along with its action sequences, though some criticized the plot as formulaic and were divided on the film's adult humor. It received many awards and nominations, including two Critics' Choice Awards and two Golden Globe nominations. A sequel, Deadpool 2, was released in 2018 to comparable critical and commercial success. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, a third film is in development at Marvel Studios.

Credit: 20th Century Pictures

Cedric Hardwicke and Fredric March in the 1935 film Les Misérables

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Joseph Leo Mankiewicz (/ˈmæŋkəwɪts/; February 11, 1909 – February 5, 1993) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. Mankiewicz had a long Hollywood career, and won both the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in consecutive years for A Letter to Three Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950), the latter of which was nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won six. Comfortable in a variety of genres and able to elicit career performances from actors and actresses alike, Mankiewicz combined ironic, sophisticated scripts with a precise, sometimes stylized mise en scène.

Mankiewicz worked for seventeen years as a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures and as a writer and producer for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer before getting a chance to direct at 20th Century Fox. Over six years, he made 11 films for Fox. During his over 40-year career in Hollywood, Mankiewicz wrote 48 screenplays. He also produced more than 20 films including The Philadelphia Story (1940) which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Woman of the Year (1942), for which he introduced Katharine Hepburn to Spencer Tracy.

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Sometimes your whole life boils down to one insane move. — Jake Sully, Avatar (2009)