‘Deadpool’ director reveals the shocking amount he was paid

The director of the first “Deadpool” movie has revealed the amount he was paid to helm the film — and the number may surprise you.

Tim Miller, 60, spoke about directing the 2016 movie starring Ryan Reynolds, 48, during a recent panel at CCXP in São Paulo, Brazil, per Collider.

According to Miller, he was only paid $225,000 for the project. The movie grossed $782 million globally.

“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,” the filmmaker said.

Though Miller had only written and directed short films before making the superhero flick, he ended up spending two years making the movie.

“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 f–kng grateful,” he explained. “That’s the way it is.”

Miller recalled his agent telling him at the time, “Dude, you make more on an episode of ‘The Walking Dead!’”

“Deadpool” was a box office hit with a $782 million global gross on a $58 million budget, making it the highest-grossing “X-Men” and highest-grossing R-rated movie until that point.

Reynolds — who both produced and starred in the 2016 smash — spent years getting the potty-mouthed Marvel character a stand-alone film after first playing him in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”

That iteration of “Deadpool” was highly sanitized compared to how he appeared in Miller’s film.

Miller also shared that he feels “nothing but pride” to have helped create the massively profitable “Deadpool” franchise.

Both follow-ups to the original film have been box-office successes —“Deadpool 2” (2018), directed by David Leitch, earned $785 million worldwide. This year’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” directed by Shawn Levy, took home $1.338 billion worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made.

“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 [2016’s ‘Deadpool’],” Miller added.

“And I feel uniquely fortunate that I could be part of it. 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.”

Reynolds has also opened up about his paycheck on the first “Deadpool.”

Speaking to the New York Times in July, the star said, “When I finally got to make [‘Deadpool’], it had been almost 10 years at that point.”

“No part of me was thinking when ‘Deadpool’ was finally greenlit that this would be a success.”‘

Reynolds “even let go of getting paid” just to ensure the movie got made, saying that he used up a big chunk of his paycheck to get his co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick allowed on set.

“I took the little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could form a de facto writers’ room,” he revealed.

Following the success of “Deadpool,” Miller directed 2019’s “Terminator: Dark Fate,” created the Prime Video animated anthology TV series “Secret Level” and has been an executive producer on the “Sonic the Hedgehog” films. The third installment is in theaters now.