1980s sitcom and movie icon Fred Savage might be returning to the big screen this winter for Once Upon a Deadpool (a PG-13 edit of Deadpool 2 with about 20 minutes of new footage), but these days the former child actor seems to spend just as much time directing as he does acting.
So what’s next for Savage? In a phone interview, he tells Inverse that he’d consider directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (or some other comedy-infused superhero movie), just as long as the price is right.
“The thing I really like is how with Guardians they brought this whole new sense of humor to these films,” Savage says when asked what superhero movie or show he’d want to direct. “Between Guardians and obviously the Deadpools and Thor: Ragnarok, that sense of humor is kind of seeping its way into these films I really like. So hopefully something with that sort of irreverence.”
So does that mean he’d be interested in directing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is presumably still looking for a new director after Disney fired GotG writer and director James Gunn over some controversial old tweets?
“Yeah, perhaps,” Savage says. But before he agrees to anything, he has one simple question. “What’s the offer?”
In the meantime, Savage hopes superhero fans will flock to theaters for Once Upon a Deadpool, regardless of whether they’ve already seen the R-rated version or not.
“There’s a lot of new footage, not just stuff with me and Ryan [Reynolds],” he says, “But there’s other new footage and material that wasn’t in the first one.”
Even better, one dollar from every ticket sold goes to the charity Fuck Cancer, which is being briefly renamed Fudge Cancer to honor the PG-13 rating.
Savage also admitted to being a big fan of the regular Deadpool movies but says the one thing missing from those experiences was his children.
“I left each one saying, ‘Wow that was great, but it would have been so much better if my kids were with me,’” he says. “Now, parents all over America can enjoy the Deadpool franchise with their children, as it should be.”
If you’re wondering how Savage fits into Deadpool, the new edit adds a framing device similar to the storytelling tool used in the 1987 classic The Princess Bride, which featured a young Fred having the fairy tale read to him by his grandpa (Peter Falk, Columbo).
Reflecting on that experience. Savage says he unfortunately never got a chance to meet the film’s writer, William Goldman, who passed away in November 2018, but he’s thankful to be part of that story.
“I knew him, just like all of us did, through his writing and his work, and am obviously very, very happy to have been a small part of that,” Savage says. “Particularly since he was a young kid growing up in Chicago, to portray that role in the film was incredibly meaningful to me and I feel very proud to be some small part of his incredible legacy.”
Once Upon a Deadpool will be released in theaters on December 14.
*Related video: An Expert Look At Wormhole Travel In ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2’
