While Deadpool being nominated for Oscars was something of a long shot, it was still within the realm of possibility. Ryan Reynolds is taking the snub in stride, however. No sour grapes from him. The actor took to social media to announce that the lack of an Oscar nomination for his movie would not impact his regular schedule. If you were expecting to attend the planned tickle-fight, no worries, it's still on.
The awards season ride for Deadpool had to be a wild one. While the movie was one of the box office blockbusters for 2016, and it made its share of top ten lists, nobody would have considered it as a major contender for awards. However, both Ryan Reynolds and the movie itself received Golden Globe nominations, and Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese currently have themselves a Writer's Guild of America nomination for the film's screenplay. It's also been nominated by the Producer's Guild of America, and it won a couple of Critic's Choice awards. Deadpool getting an Oscar nomination or two wouldn't actually have been a shock. If anything, the lack of nominations is what's surprising.
We're glad that Ryan Reynolds isn't so despondent over the snub to cancel the scheduled tickle-fight. Awards are funny things. Most people don't necessarily think about them, but once the talk starts you have to assume that everybody gets caught up in it a little bit. Reynolds may not have been expecting a nomination, but he was probably paying attention to the announcement just in case.
If there was a place where Deadpool really felt like it had a shot, it was in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. The script is, in a lot of ways, the thing that separated Deadpool from the rest of the comic book movie genre. It was smart as well as funny and it really brought the popular comic book character to life in a unique way. Unfortunately, that particular category was stacked pretty deep this year. Arrival, Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Moonlight all received multiple nominations and are some of the most critically praised films this year. It's difficult to imagine which one of them Deadpool could have supplanted.
We'll have to wait and see if Deadpool makes an Oscar appearance anyway. Often the popular, but unnominated, films get nods during the show one way or another. He's to hoping that Deadpool presents an award in costume. That might be enough to get us through the ceremony.
