Making Deadpool gave Ryan Reynolds a nervous breakdown

Deadpool has been in the news of late with the departure of director Tim Miller from the sequel. According to reports, Miller wanted more visual razzmatazz (and Kyle Chandler as Cable) while Reynolds wanted to focus on the raunchy humor and a different Cable. While it sounds like a bumpy road, don’t forget, Reynolds is really what drove the movie, not just his portrayal but his passion for the project. A passion so great that it gave him a mini breakdown as he told GQ in a Man of the Year interview:

It sounds relentless.
I felt like I was on some schooner in the middle of a white squall the whole time. It just never stopped. When it finally ended, I had a little bit of a nervous breakdown. I literally had the shakes. I went to go see a doctor because I felt like I was suffering from a neurological problem or something. And every doctor I saw said, “You have anxiety.”
What were you so anxious about?
I say this with the caveat that I completely recognize the ridiculously fortunate position that I am in. But the attention is hard on your nervous system—that might be why I live out in the woods. And I was banging the loudest drum for Deadpool. I wasn’t just trying to open it; I was trying to make a cultural phenomenon.

He definitely succeeded in that and it seems like he’s continuing to be all in. In the same interview he says of Miller’s departure: 


“All I can really add is that I’m sad to see him off the film. Tim’s brilliant and nobody worked harder on Deadpool than he did.”

Deadpool 2 is currently being written and has no definite release time frame.