Ryan Reynolds Confesses To Leaking ‘Deadpool’ Test Footage Online: “Greatful That I Did The Wrong Thing”

Ryan Reynolds is attending the Toronto International Film Festival to promote the documentary he’s producing, “John Candy: I Like Me,” and has finally admitted to leaking that “Deadpool” test footage online back in 2014 that created a huge demand from the fan community to see 20th Century Fox greenlight the R-rated “X-Men” spinoff/standalone.

Entertainment Weekly was able to finally get the Canadian actor/producer to admit to leaking the footage (which was a digital concept version that ended up being used in the final movie) during a recent chat, as he’s been slowly taking responsibility over the years.

“Yes, I cheated a little, but I think I was onto something that people would be interested in,” Reynolds told moderator Anita Lee at TIFF on Friday. “And I’m grateful that I listened to that instinct, and I’m grateful that I did the wrong thing in that moment.”

READ MORE: Marvel Casting “Young Talent” For ‘X-Men’ Over A-Listers Due To Budgeting, ‘Blade’ Reboot & ‘Deadpool 4’ Still Not Huge Priorities

“I’d shot test footage for it a couple of years before, and the studio just didn’t want anything to do with it…And Deadpool’s a fringe character,” Reynolds added. “People didn’t really know who he was, and I loved him. I was obsessed with it because I loved that he knew he was in a comic book movie. It was kind of meta, it was kind of new. But the test footage existed, and it really was a case study of how this could work. And they just wouldn’t do anything with it.”

“Some a**hole leaks it online and I’m like, you know, looking at the guy in the mirror brushing my teeth,” he said, finally taking credit for the leak for the first time. “And I’m like, ‘Dude, what have you done? This could be punishable by law!’ But the internet forced the studio to say, ‘We’re gonna make this movie,’ and 24 hours later, that movie had a green light.”

That test footage was put together by Reynolds and director Tim Miller via his VFX/production banner Blur Studio (behind things like the “Sonic The Hedgehog” movies and acclaimed Netflix anthology series “Love, Death & Robots“).

Reynolds had been involved with trying to get Wade Wilson on the big screen for ages going back to when the project was at New Line Cinema and “Blade” franchise screenwriter David S. Goyer (could explain why he brought back his “Blade Trinity” co-star Wesley Snipes for “Deadpool & Wolverine“) was attempting to help realize that vision before the rights headed to Fox.

As it stands, the three R-rated “Deadpool” installments have earned an impressive $2.9 billion at the global box office, despite chatter that “Deadpool 4” isn’t exactly a “priority” at Marvel Studios, with rumblings of a mysterious “team-up film” and Reynolds recently hinting at his possible involvement in the next two “Avengers” sequels.