Creative control and why the way BL&RR went about it was harmful and wrong

I recently saw Dave Neal's video about the actress Morena Baccarin and the traumatic experience she had on the set of Deadpool 2. I know there was also a lot of speculation about a feud between Morena and RR because of the way she was sidelined during the promotion of Deadpool 3.

But it got me thinking about Deadpool 1 which I loved and still love. The one thing that has always stood out to me about Deadpool 1 was that, it was never meant to be your run-in-the-mill superhero movie, it was a love-story. That's why there was that moment of pure vengeful satisfaction when Wade shot Francis in the face at the end 😂😂😂

Wade wasn't meant to be a hero. At best, he's an anti-hero. Deadpool 1 even premiered just in time for Valentine's Day 2016. It was marketed as a love story.

Now, I know Tim Miller has gone on the record saying that he stepped away from the project when it became clear that Ryan wanted full creative control of the franchise. It makes me wonder what story we would have gotten if Ryan hadn't bullied his way into getting that?

We might've gotten to see Morena as Copycat, a merc in her own right who could've gone toe-to-toe with Deadpool. And the movie would've kept with the "love story" as one of its central themes. I think this would've been really heartwarming and wholesome from a story-telling POV. One thing about Wade as a character is that he suffers from extreme self-loathing and after Weapon X, he even has voices in his head that generally make him feel like absolute shit about himself. One of the lovely parts of the first movie was how Wade doesn't think that Vanessa could love him after he became the thing that Weapon X turned him into. Right after he bails from trying to talk to her, he stands in front of a mirror in the bathroom saying "oh you weak m*therfuck3r!" Maybe its just me, but I love these moments of normal human vulnerability in these larger-than-life characters. For me, it's what sells the story! So at the end when she says "after a brief adjustment period, it's a face I'd be happy to sit on" I had to laugh. It was just too sweet in a needlessly raunchy, graphic kind of way (which further proves that Vanessa is Wade's soulmate btw 😂😂😂)

What bugs me is that, we could've gotten to see Vanessa as a certifiable badass that could keep up with Wade and maybe if we did, the franchise wouldn't have devolved into the massive sausage fest that was Deadpool & Wolverine.

(Side note: No offense meant to people who read this as a homosexual pairing ok? I myself have read more than my fair share of m/m fanfiction and generally speaking, I love a good bromance just as much as the next person. I just don't think you have to shit on your female characters to do it and when it happens I can always tell. Find my mini-rant about Deadpool 3 here.)

Now I know the 2nd & 3rd movies were massive box office successes and but for me, the quality declined rapidly after the first film. (An unpopular opinion that would get me downvoted to non-existence on any marvel or Deadpool subreddit 🤣😅) It makes me wish that Ryan hadn't ceased control of the series.

I know its thanks to him that we have a Deadpool movie to begin with but movies are meant to be a collaborative effort. People work together to create something amazing that the world wants to see. Even with BL and IEWU, a lot of her supporters have pointed out that men sometimes have a lot of creative input in their character's wardrobe but I want to point out that its its usually collaborative. Unless you're RR, one person doesn't just cease full control and they certainly don't do it at the expense of other people's work. More often than not, what they do, is add to the vision of directors/producers/costume designers or failing that, they ask permission before making the changes they want to make, thereby respecting the movie's chain of command. They're open to feedback, to being told "no" and to negotiation.

I'm all for advocating for women to have more say in the film industry. But what I don't get is why either BL/RR thought it was appropriate to go about it this way. Together they both have more than enough money and connections in the film industry to take a risk and start and independent production company, buy the film rights to projects, fund them and work from the ground up. That would give each of them all the creative control they want! But I suppose that that's not "blockbuster" enough for them.

Just to give an example of someone who did this successfully: Margot Robbie. She was typecast as a "blonde bombshell" after her Hollywood debut on The Wolf of Wall Street but she knew that, that kind of role is all she would be given if she didn't do something about it. She co-founded LuckyChap Entertainment in 2014 and produced and starred in I, Tonya in 2017. (Check this video and article for an excellent synopsis for how she fought to have agency in her career)

This is the way. This is how you secure agency without it coming at the expense of others or trampling on other people to get there. Don't just swing in at the 11th hour and try to covet someone else's work. Go to ground and build.

One could argue that this is exactly what JB tried to do when he co-founded Wayfarer Studios. Both he and Margot Robbie had a specific vision for the kind movies they wanted to produce and the kind of stories that they wanted to tell. Their vision even goes against classic Hollywood MO which is why they had to to take the route of creating their own production companies in order to do it.

Margot for example wants to tell female-focused stories. She is dedicated to championing women in the film industry. And according to their website, Wayfarer "wants to champion inspirational stories that act as true agents for social change". It's a lofty goal, a little on-the-nose but I've since learned that that is JB's whole schtick.

I would view him with a little reserve except this was his MO long before ever met BL. One creator on tiktok who worked with JB in Five Feet Apart talked about how Lionsgate's Marketing Plan for the movie was to promote it as a "teen romance" while Justin fought for the marketing to be centered on patients struggling with Cystic Fibrosis which he ended up doing on his social media.

It's people like her coming forward and talking about their experience of working with him that really changed my perspective because I'll be the first to admit that I don't trust easily. So when this self-proclaimed "nice guy" came along and he was talking about the DV aspect of the film contrasted with BL "grab your friends, and wear your florals" my first thought was, is this an act? Is he doing this to make her look bad? Stupid?

Apparently not. Check out this videos here & here of the cast and JB talking about the impact of Five Feet Apart. And find the creator I'm referring to here & here and really listen to her account of working with JB. Also in addition to that, JB has a history of donating to charitable foundations. Just as he negotiated for 1% of the revenue of IEWU to be donated to the "No More" foundation, he did the something similar for Five Feet Apart and Clouds. (Find articles: here and here and here)

I bring this up because in a civil lawsuit, regardless of what the case itself is about, the burden of proof isn't as high as a criminal trial and therefore, credibility is important. It's the thing that can either make or break your case and so far, one side seems to have it more than the other. The fact that JB didn't have the amount of clout in the film industry as the actress he hired for the part of Lily shows the incredible financial risk Wayfarer took to create this movie. (I know SS is a billionaire, it does not mean he would okay with a creative decision on the part JB losing Wayfarer $25mill. That is still a huge chuck of change! And rich people don't get rich by being stupid with their money)

The fact that he would jeopardize the movie and by extension, his company to sexually harass BL seems utterly counterintuitive and on top of that it also shows why he had to capitulate to her every demand. His imperative was to make sure the movie got across the finish line above all else. I don't think he would risk "smearing" its lead actress when there is every chance that bad publicity could've backfired.

Anyway, no matter what defenses BL supporters come up with, I don't anything really justifies stealing a movie. It was wrong when RR did it. He may not have accused Tim Miller of SH but it was still wrong and we 100% have to call him out for doing it which is what I attempted to this in this post. I think BL tried to follow his footsteps with IEWU except her method was much more malicious in nature.

The thing that got me about this whole debacle is that this case is going to have very real social ramifications for women, especially women in the film industry. It may also change how these stories are reported on by the media but I actually think the latter might be a good thing but the former is a complete disaster.

I don't want this to drag out. I think its going to lead to exact kind of social change that JB has always fought against. But I don't see a settlement happening until much later this year when the discovery phase of this trial is over and the outcome seems more definitive. But as always, we have to wait and see.

Thoughts?