Brilliant 'Deadpool' Oscars campaign roots for the underdog

Few modern Hollywood ad campaigns have ever maintained a long-term, multi-layered narrative better than "Deadpool." And ahead of the Oscar-nom announcements on Jan. 24, the machinery is staying brilliantly on message.

On Thursday evening, "Deadpool" star Ryan Reynolds tweeted out a 30-second "for your consideration" video aimed at the Academy. And right down to its open-ended chaps, the tone is perfectly cheeky.

Yet it's not just Reynolds' familiar, smart-alecky comic delivery as charred superhero Deadpool/Wade Wilson that matches the spirit of the film. More important are the precise words that Reynolds utters with a wink in voiceover.

Because soon after he cites "600 lbs. of chimichangas" as an ingredient in the hit film's winning recipe, Reynolds gets to the real meat of the matter: "42 rejection letters from Fox. 1 leaked video. And 783 million fans." (The film grossed $783 million worldwide.)

With just those three numbers, the entire upstart arc behind the making of "Deadpool" is sketched. Because Oscar campaigns are a rigorous performance unto themselves - ideally, a deft strategy that blends smiling access with a stump "story" to pitch as part of the multimillion-dollar politicking - and "Deadpool" is selling a tale of long-term grit and commitment.

The narrative: "Deadpool" is the feel-good underdog that defied the doubters and succeeded far beyond all expectations because - much like the superhero himself - the four main filmmakers refused to let this die.

The stations of the film's long cross are well-known: It was more than a decade ago that Reynolds, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and director Tim Miller began trying to adapt the Marvel character for a feature film. But the project seemed dead in the water after a double dose of misfortune: Reynolds had to play a dreadfully conceived version of the character in director Gavin Hood's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009) - the "merc with a mouth" was bizarrely rendered mute, lips sewn shut - and then two years later, the Reynolds-starring "Green Lantern" from Warner Bros./DC bombed at the box office. A future Deadpool solo film appeared to be dead in the water.

But shortly before "Lantern" tanked, Fox had given Miller a low-six-figure budget to make a "Deadpool" test reel. Fox had too many concerns to move forward. Then, in the summer of 2014, test footage leaked - and the fanboys ate it up. Interest was stoked, Fox suits were assuaged - and the underdog had a green light. (To this day, the four-man creative team refuses to disclose which of them leaked the test reel; they recently joked that it was Putin.)

From there, "Deadpool" had to figure out how to market itself with a budget significantly smaller than that of most studio superhero films. By necessity, Reynolds and the writers got creative, with a minimal buy of scatological emoji billboards that went viral; with a Halloween trick-or-treat video shot on an iPhone; and with a Valentine's Day ad in which the mutant antihero lounges on a bear rug, a la the iconic '70s Burt Reynolds centerfold in Cosmopolitan. Throughout it all, hawking while in costume, Reynolds seemed utterly in his element.

"I can channel this guy [Deadpool] in a way I just can't seem to channel anything else," Reynolds told the Hollywood Reporter last fall. "When it comes to Deadpool's sensibility, and certainly his sense of humor, I feel like we were born on the same end of the spectrum."

The sustained blitz helped "Deadpool" become the highest-grossing R-rated film of the year, with the sequel in the works.

And two of the early awards that the film reaped were Grand Clio Key Art Awards ­- marketing honors bestowed last October for best integrated campaign and best out-of-home advertising (for the emoji billboard).

Now, the film's advertising takes full aim at the Oscars, riding a wave of surprise critical recognition from the Golden Globes (two noms), the Critics' Choice Awards, the PGA, the WGA and American Cinema Editors.

Reynolds even seems to stay in character when responding to the prospect of an Oscar nod. After The Post recently again asked whether "Deadpool" could actually be nominated for Oscar, Reynolds tweeted:

"If by chance this happens, prepare for the world's most ridiculous reaction video."