Tim Miller Opens Up About His Shockingly Low Pay for Directing ‘Deadpool’ Despite Its Huge Success

The first Deadpool movie was a huge success, starting a billion-dollar franchise with three films. It earned $783.1 million worldwide on a $58 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing X-Men film and the ninth-highest-grossing film of 2016.

It made a net profit of $322 million, making it the second-most profitable film of 2016. Deadpool also became the highest-grossing R-rated film until Joker took the record in 2019.

Despite its success, making Deadpool wasn’t easy. Ryan Reynolds recently hinted that he helped leak test footage online, which led fans to demand the movie. The film’s underdog status also affected the pay of its director, Tim Miller.

At a panel in São Paulo, Tim Miller revealed that he was paid just $225,000 for directing Deadpool, even though the film made over $782 million worldwide. This was surprisingly low given the movie’s big success.

Miller shared that he felt proud to be part of Deadpool‘s success, especially seeing all the merchandise at events like CCXP. However, he jokingly said he wished his director’s deal included a share of the merchandise profits so he could benefit from it.

You know what I feel? Nothing but pride. I mean, I feel like every time I walk down the aisles out there on the floor of CCXP and I see all these Deadpool figurines, I think they wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t made that film. And I feel uniquely fortunate that I could be part of it. Then, then my second thought is, I wish my director deals had a piece of the merchandising so that I could get some money from all of that.

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Miller explained that being a first-time director in Hollywood isn’t as profitable as people might think. He was paid $225,000 for directing the movie, which wasn’t much for two years of work.

Although he’s grateful, he pointed out that many people think all directors make millions, but that’s not always true. He also mentioned that he never expected to get the chance to direct, especially at the age of 50, after wanting to make a movie his whole life.

You guys might not know, but it’s not really a profitable thing to be a first-time director in Hollywood, and I’ll tell you exactly. I got $225,000 to direct Deadpool. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but for two years of work, that’s not a ton of money. 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. My agent said ‘Dude, you make more on an episode of The Walking Dead!’

I think a lot of people think that everyone’s getting paid millions and millions in Hollywood. It’s just not the case, not always. I don’t want to sound like I wasn’t grateful because I had worked, I was 50 when I got a chance to direct Deadpool, and I really thought I wasn’t going to get a chance to direct a movie even though I’d wanted to my whole life

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