Washington [US]: Director Tim Miller recently opened up about his financial compensation for directing Deadpool (2016), revealing the challenges of being a first-time director in Hollywood.
Miller, who made his feature film directorial debut with the iconic superhero movie starring Ryan Reynolds, shared that despite the film’s massive success at the box office, it wasn’t “profitable” for him as a director. He disclosed that he was paid USD 225,000 for his work on Deadpool, which took about two years to complete. While the amount might sound significant, Miller explained that it wasn’t a huge sum for the long hours of work involved. “I know it sounds like a lot of money, but for two years of work, that’s not a ton of money,” he said.
Miller continued, saying, “Not that I’m not grateful, I’m fucking grateful, that’s the way it is because you’re supposed to when you’re a first-time director.” He further recalled that his agent jokingly told him, “Dude, you make more on an episode of The Walking Dead.”
Despite the modest salary for his role, Deadpool went on to earn more than USD 782 million globally at the box office, becoming a massive success. Miller, reflecting on the success, stated that he feels “uniquely fortunate” to be part of such a beloved franchise but also mentioned, “I wish my director deals had a piece of the merchandising so that I could get some money from all of that.”
After the first film’s success, Deadpool saw a sequel in 2018, directed by David Leitch. Following Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2017, the character was integrated into Marvel Studios’ MCU, and a third installment, featuring both Deadpool and Wolverine, was released in 2024, directed by Shawn Levy.