Home
May 31, 2009 - IGN recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool himself – on the trail for his latest romantic comedy, The Proposal, staring alongside Sandra Bullock. After a few moments of musing about the world of rom-com's, the geek came out in both of us and the interview turned quickly to the eventual Deadpool film. Reynolds talked at length about his hopes for the film, as well about as next project, a buried-alive thriller set to film later this year.
Read on to find out just what this mouthy Merc had to say…
IGN: Romantic comedies, almost more than any other genre, either work, or they don't. And I'm curious what you, as an actor, having done a few of these now, look for in a script to give you a sense that this will work?
REYNOLDS: Well, unfortunately, they don't let you try out a few scenes beforehand. You can't take it for a test-drive. There's no real buyer's remorse in this industry. I've said it before, it's 100% contingent on chemistry. If that's there, the world's your oyster. If it's not, you're in deep sh*t. You can't manufacture it. It's one of those few, intangible, tough-to-articulate functions in Hollywood. It's the last vestige of magic, chemistry. It's utterly inexplicable. You just can't create it. And for me, it was Sandy. I've know her for years. That was hugely helpful, but it doesn't necessarily equate to a spark.
IGN: What level of knowing someone helps to aid that chemistry? It's not a one-to-one ratio.
REYNOLDS: No, no…Sandy and I got together at the beginning and read a few scenes. We blocked out six hours to just sort of play around with it, and it lasted for about 30 minutes. We were laughing and playing around and discovered all this chemistry that we weren't aware of.
IGN: I was watching Definitely, Maybe not too long ago, and it certainly applies here…To what degree, as an actor working on a romantic comedy, do you need to, in some way, fall in love with your co-star? Or is it kiss and cut and we're off to our trailers?
REYNOLDS: That's tough. That's a great question. You are, to a certain degree, in a very boundaried sense, in love with them – like you're in a love with a very good friend. You care about them; you're interested in them. Again, that doesn't always mean you'll have fireworks on film. The thing I noticed about Sandra, we could be doing a scene where we're not even looking at each other, yet I could completely understand and feel her. Most moviegoers wouldn't notice this, but when you watch The Proposal, a lot of the comedy is held in a two-shot, which usually isn't done in a romantic comedy. Usually, you have to build and edit the comedy. But it was all there with us.
IGN: You're certainly no stranger to comedies at this point. Do you find that you get more freedom as you do more of these to riff and go off-book, or do you find yourself sticking to the script?
REYNOLDS: The hard thing, for me, is adhering to that PG-13 kinda vibe. I've always worked blue; I've always respected guys who worked blue. Some people find it too easy, but my sensibilities lean that way. But for me, working in the constructs of the rating system is hard.
IGN: You've definitely built a career in which you're comfortable doing genre pictures and action films and romantic comedie. Do you have a preference which of these you work in, given that sensibility to "go blue," or is what you're doing at the time generally your favorite thing?
REYNOLDS: I don't have a preference, really. I feel fortunate that I'm still able to get away with it. For the most part, this industry isn't overly accepting of going about your business that way. But if you look back, guys like Jack Lemmon or Carey Grant, they all did that…I get a little depressed if I go from one movie that's just a comedy to the next movie that's just a comedy, or in the same vein. It's okay, though, if one film is a comedy and the next movie is a f*@ked up comedy. Then I'm happy.
IGN: It must be interesting in that sense because you've sort of tinkered with these quasi-franchises. A few minutes as Deadpool in Wolverine, for instance. Blade, I think, was a good example of something that could have gone on…
REYNOLDS [laughs] You mean when I was playing Deadpool in Blade?
IGN: And with Deadpool you're playing a character who could reasonably go on to have a hugely successful franchise. Is that intimidating to you, as a performer, being on the doorstep of that – before there's a script, before there's a director, just thinking, "Holy sh*t, this could actually happen"?
REYNOLDS: We're just trying to get it right. There's so many variables to play. It's tough because when you have a character like Deadpool, to the greatest extent of your power, you want to bring as much authenticity to that character as possible. And by "authenticity," I don't mean that you'd want to make him somebody that you'd have a Starbucks coffee with, I mean that you want to make him as close to the comics as possible. And there's nothing that I wouldn't do to make sure that ends up on film, but sometimes things are out of your control, things that you can't change. But I'm really happy, in these early talks, that the studio is as obsessed with making it as close to the comic book source material as possible. And that's all I really needed to hear. Cuz I will husk-f*@k a herd of cattle to bring Wade Wilson to life as the real deal.
IGN: It may be entirely too early to ask this question…Deadpool isn't necessarily a villain in the opening moments of Wolverine, but he's certainly a villain by the end of the movie. Will there be any real effort to make it fit within the continuity of Wolverine? Or will you just allow it to be its own thing?
REYNOLDS: Without saying too much, I can't imagine that there's gonna be any tie-in to the Wolverine movie at all.
IGN: One would think, given that you're buried under rubble and headless.
REYNOLDS: Exactly. There's that little teaser at the end, but for the most part, I can't imagine that they'd tie it in with the film too closely.
IGN: And you've said previously, the Deadpool we glimpse in Wolverine isn't necessarily the character you'd want to play. You've spoken about doing the more self-aware –
REYNOLDS: Absolutely! That's the reason to do it…There's nothing else like that in movies, or comic books, for that matter. I would like to make him self-aware; I'd like to have a bit of a pop-culture air going on throughout the film. I mean, the greatest villain in a Deadpool comic is Deadpool. There's a lot you can do there, but you've gotta ask, "Who's the boss? Who's the guy he's going up against?" But it's breaking the fourth wall; it's including all those things in a way that works, but it's not nearly as hard as it sounds. It can really be done. And people tend to overlook the greatest resource we have, which is the comic book. If it can be done in the comic, it can be done on film in a way that's just as much fun to watch for people who know nothing about the character than for people who are obsessed with the character.
IGN: It's interesting, in this job, to talk to people about a project that is still, in some way, sort of a whisper. You're not shooting; there's nobody attached; there's no script. Barely even a concept. And I'd imagine that so much of this is living simply in your head for the moment, how do you protect it? How do you ensure to yourself and the audience that the movie you want to make is the movie you will?
REYNOLDS: The biggest question is finding a filmmaker. Film is a director's medium, not an actor's medium. I have a voice, but there are louder voices in the room than mine. One is the studio and one is the director. And I respect that. The studio is paying a lot of money. It's very easy to discount the studio's opinion, but ultimately, they're paying for it. It's hard to not just tell everybody everything about it because you just get so excited. There's so much to do with a movie like this, so much you can do, and I'm just trying to figure out a way to structure all of those things around kicking Captain America in the nuts.
IGN: Part of it is just getting you to the place where you have the power to just say, "Well, if we don't do it this way, I'm out."
REYNOLDS: Yeah, if only! I've never been that guy. I'm not a diva. I've always been a really collaborative person. And I love film for that reason. A movie is only as good as the sum of its parts. I'm only as good as the grip. You gotta have everybody firing on all cylinders. I'd love to have a working script that the crew reads and is absolutely stoked to make.
IGN: Not to belabor the point, but Deadpool is really the character where, if you're casting Deadpool, you're a smart choice for that. It works with much of what you've done already – the comedy, the drama.
REYNOLDS: Yeah, all those things. And I have ideas for it that I think are right in tune with the tone of that character. I'm dying to see them on film. Literally, dying. So many of the outlets that follow this character are curious what the elements will be, afraid that you won't be disfigured, that you won't wear the mask, and I laugh because there's no way to do this without having the scarring, having the mask, having it all. And it can be done. It's a no-brainer in that sense. You gotta have the character of Deadpool. You don't want to just invent something new and call it Deadpool.
IGN: So what's next for you? You've done The Proposal. Deadpool's on the horizon…
REYNOLDS: I have two dramas – one in the summer, one in the fall – and then, hopefully, after that, we'll get to tackle this crimson f*@ker.
IGN: Is it intimidating when you're going into a movie like Deadpool to think how much training you'll have to do?
REYNOLDS: That part's freaking me out. I also realize that it's not really a typical movie, a three-month commitment. It's a year commitment. It's a year of training. I've always kept up with the swords from Wolverine just because I loved it. It always freaks people out when they're at the house and they see the swords lying around.
IGN: Especially when you pick one up and say, "Let's try something."
REYNOLDS: "Let's go for this! I'm gonna perform some amateur circumcision!" That part I love. I love training for a movie. I'm a tall guy, so it's a little harder to do the gymnastics stuff, but I did a lot when I was younger, so I'd like to work solely on that.
IGN: When you do a movie like The Proposal, with romantic comedies, typically you'll do one and then maybe, if you're lucky, it'll do well enough to warrant a sequel. So you go into it thinking, "Okay, at most, this is a two film commitment." Something like Deadpool, that could be three films, maybe eight or ten years.
REYNOLDS: Best case scenario! That's a high-class problem you've just described there.
IGN: "Oh, my god, I've got to play this incredible character for eight years of gainful employment."
REYNOLDS: Yeah, it's not like I've got flies landing on my eyeballs, right? It's a high-class problem, and it's a character I love. There's so much to do with a character like that. So three films, to me, seems almost appropriate.
IGN: Can you talk a bit more specifically about the two dramas?
REYNOLDS: One, I can't really talk about because it hasn't been announced yet. The other is a very Hitchcock-esque kind of suspense movie called Buried. I play a contractor – not a solider; more like a driver, really – for one of these firms like Blackwater. It's set in Iraq. In fact, this is how odd the movie is, I'm the only person in the movie.
IGN: As an actor, when you get a script like that, when you're carrying the whole movie…
REYNOLDS: A lot of Hitchcock movies were very experimental like that – playing with real-time, or location. This one takes place in a coffin.
IGN: Lastly…Your message to fans who are concerned about Deadpool, those who only got a glimpse of you –
REYNOLDS: And I wasn't even the Deadpool that they knew.
IGN: Exactly…What would be your message to them to assuage their fears about the upcoming movie?
REYNOLDS: If they can imagine if one of them were given the opportunity to do a Deadpool movie, just imagine that's what's happening. Just to have faith in that. And to have faith in the studio. It's hard for fans to do that, but I feel like they really want to do an authentic Deadpool movie….He's like Jason Bourne meets Phantom of the Opera by way of Caddyshack. And that, right there, is a wholly originally character, and that's what excites the dark overlords who fund this film. And me.
Read on to find out just what this mouthy Merc had to say…
IGN: Romantic comedies, almost more than any other genre, either work, or they don't. And I'm curious what you, as an actor, having done a few of these now, look for in a script to give you a sense that this will work?
REYNOLDS: Well, unfortunately, they don't let you try out a few scenes beforehand. You can't take it for a test-drive. There's no real buyer's remorse in this industry. I've said it before, it's 100% contingent on chemistry. If that's there, the world's your oyster. If it's not, you're in deep sh*t. You can't manufacture it. It's one of those few, intangible, tough-to-articulate functions in Hollywood. It's the last vestige of magic, chemistry. It's utterly inexplicable. You just can't create it. And for me, it was Sandy. I've know her for years. That was hugely helpful, but it doesn't necessarily equate to a spark.
IGN: What level of knowing someone helps to aid that chemistry? It's not a one-to-one ratio.
REYNOLDS: No, no…Sandy and I got together at the beginning and read a few scenes. We blocked out six hours to just sort of play around with it, and it lasted for about 30 minutes. We were laughing and playing around and discovered all this chemistry that we weren't aware of.
IGN: I was watching Definitely, Maybe not too long ago, and it certainly applies here…To what degree, as an actor working on a romantic comedy, do you need to, in some way, fall in love with your co-star? Or is it kiss and cut and we're off to our trailers?
REYNOLDS: That's tough. That's a great question. You are, to a certain degree, in a very boundaried sense, in love with them – like you're in a love with a very good friend. You care about them; you're interested in them. Again, that doesn't always mean you'll have fireworks on film. The thing I noticed about Sandra, we could be doing a scene where we're not even looking at each other, yet I could completely understand and feel her. Most moviegoers wouldn't notice this, but when you watch The Proposal, a lot of the comedy is held in a two-shot, which usually isn't done in a romantic comedy. Usually, you have to build and edit the comedy. But it was all there with us.
IGN: You're certainly no stranger to comedies at this point. Do you find that you get more freedom as you do more of these to riff and go off-book, or do you find yourself sticking to the script?
REYNOLDS: The hard thing, for me, is adhering to that PG-13 kinda vibe. I've always worked blue; I've always respected guys who worked blue. Some people find it too easy, but my sensibilities lean that way. But for me, working in the constructs of the rating system is hard.
IGN: You've definitely built a career in which you're comfortable doing genre pictures and action films and romantic comedie. Do you have a preference which of these you work in, given that sensibility to "go blue," or is what you're doing at the time generally your favorite thing?
REYNOLDS: I don't have a preference, really. I feel fortunate that I'm still able to get away with it. For the most part, this industry isn't overly accepting of going about your business that way. But if you look back, guys like Jack Lemmon or Carey Grant, they all did that…I get a little depressed if I go from one movie that's just a comedy to the next movie that's just a comedy, or in the same vein. It's okay, though, if one film is a comedy and the next movie is a f*@ked up comedy. Then I'm happy.
IGN: It must be interesting in that sense because you've sort of tinkered with these quasi-franchises. A few minutes as Deadpool in Wolverine, for instance. Blade, I think, was a good example of something that could have gone on…
REYNOLDS [laughs] You mean when I was playing Deadpool in Blade?
IGN: And with Deadpool you're playing a character who could reasonably go on to have a hugely successful franchise. Is that intimidating to you, as a performer, being on the doorstep of that – before there's a script, before there's a director, just thinking, "Holy sh*t, this could actually happen"?
REYNOLDS: We're just trying to get it right. There's so many variables to play. It's tough because when you have a character like Deadpool, to the greatest extent of your power, you want to bring as much authenticity to that character as possible. And by "authenticity," I don't mean that you'd want to make him somebody that you'd have a Starbucks coffee with, I mean that you want to make him as close to the comics as possible. And there's nothing that I wouldn't do to make sure that ends up on film, but sometimes things are out of your control, things that you can't change. But I'm really happy, in these early talks, that the studio is as obsessed with making it as close to the comic book source material as possible. And that's all I really needed to hear. Cuz I will husk-f*@k a herd of cattle to bring Wade Wilson to life as the real deal.
IGN: It may be entirely too early to ask this question…Deadpool isn't necessarily a villain in the opening moments of Wolverine, but he's certainly a villain by the end of the movie. Will there be any real effort to make it fit within the continuity of Wolverine? Or will you just allow it to be its own thing?
REYNOLDS: Without saying too much, I can't imagine that there's gonna be any tie-in to the Wolverine movie at all.
IGN: One would think, given that you're buried under rubble and headless.
REYNOLDS: Exactly. There's that little teaser at the end, but for the most part, I can't imagine that they'd tie it in with the film too closely.
IGN: And you've said previously, the Deadpool we glimpse in Wolverine isn't necessarily the character you'd want to play. You've spoken about doing the more self-aware –
REYNOLDS: Absolutely! That's the reason to do it…There's nothing else like that in movies, or comic books, for that matter. I would like to make him self-aware; I'd like to have a bit of a pop-culture air going on throughout the film. I mean, the greatest villain in a Deadpool comic is Deadpool. There's a lot you can do there, but you've gotta ask, "Who's the boss? Who's the guy he's going up against?" But it's breaking the fourth wall; it's including all those things in a way that works, but it's not nearly as hard as it sounds. It can really be done. And people tend to overlook the greatest resource we have, which is the comic book. If it can be done in the comic, it can be done on film in a way that's just as much fun to watch for people who know nothing about the character than for people who are obsessed with the character.
IGN: It's interesting, in this job, to talk to people about a project that is still, in some way, sort of a whisper. You're not shooting; there's nobody attached; there's no script. Barely even a concept. And I'd imagine that so much of this is living simply in your head for the moment, how do you protect it? How do you ensure to yourself and the audience that the movie you want to make is the movie you will?
REYNOLDS: The biggest question is finding a filmmaker. Film is a director's medium, not an actor's medium. I have a voice, but there are louder voices in the room than mine. One is the studio and one is the director. And I respect that. The studio is paying a lot of money. It's very easy to discount the studio's opinion, but ultimately, they're paying for it. It's hard to not just tell everybody everything about it because you just get so excited. There's so much to do with a movie like this, so much you can do, and I'm just trying to figure out a way to structure all of those things around kicking Captain America in the nuts.
IGN: Part of it is just getting you to the place where you have the power to just say, "Well, if we don't do it this way, I'm out."
REYNOLDS: Yeah, if only! I've never been that guy. I'm not a diva. I've always been a really collaborative person. And I love film for that reason. A movie is only as good as the sum of its parts. I'm only as good as the grip. You gotta have everybody firing on all cylinders. I'd love to have a working script that the crew reads and is absolutely stoked to make.
IGN: Not to belabor the point, but Deadpool is really the character where, if you're casting Deadpool, you're a smart choice for that. It works with much of what you've done already – the comedy, the drama.
REYNOLDS: Yeah, all those things. And I have ideas for it that I think are right in tune with the tone of that character. I'm dying to see them on film. Literally, dying. So many of the outlets that follow this character are curious what the elements will be, afraid that you won't be disfigured, that you won't wear the mask, and I laugh because there's no way to do this without having the scarring, having the mask, having it all. And it can be done. It's a no-brainer in that sense. You gotta have the character of Deadpool. You don't want to just invent something new and call it Deadpool.
IGN: So what's next for you? You've done The Proposal. Deadpool's on the horizon…
REYNOLDS: I have two dramas – one in the summer, one in the fall – and then, hopefully, after that, we'll get to tackle this crimson f*@ker.
IGN: Is it intimidating when you're going into a movie like Deadpool to think how much training you'll have to do?
REYNOLDS: That part's freaking me out. I also realize that it's not really a typical movie, a three-month commitment. It's a year commitment. It's a year of training. I've always kept up with the swords from Wolverine just because I loved it. It always freaks people out when they're at the house and they see the swords lying around.
IGN: Especially when you pick one up and say, "Let's try something."
REYNOLDS: "Let's go for this! I'm gonna perform some amateur circumcision!" That part I love. I love training for a movie. I'm a tall guy, so it's a little harder to do the gymnastics stuff, but I did a lot when I was younger, so I'd like to work solely on that.
IGN: When you do a movie like The Proposal, with romantic comedies, typically you'll do one and then maybe, if you're lucky, it'll do well enough to warrant a sequel. So you go into it thinking, "Okay, at most, this is a two film commitment." Something like Deadpool, that could be three films, maybe eight or ten years.
REYNOLDS: Best case scenario! That's a high-class problem you've just described there.
IGN: "Oh, my god, I've got to play this incredible character for eight years of gainful employment."
REYNOLDS: Yeah, it's not like I've got flies landing on my eyeballs, right? It's a high-class problem, and it's a character I love. There's so much to do with a character like that. So three films, to me, seems almost appropriate.
IGN: Can you talk a bit more specifically about the two dramas?
REYNOLDS: One, I can't really talk about because it hasn't been announced yet. The other is a very Hitchcock-esque kind of suspense movie called Buried. I play a contractor – not a solider; more like a driver, really – for one of these firms like Blackwater. It's set in Iraq. In fact, this is how odd the movie is, I'm the only person in the movie.
IGN: As an actor, when you get a script like that, when you're carrying the whole movie…
REYNOLDS: A lot of Hitchcock movies were very experimental like that – playing with real-time, or location. This one takes place in a coffin.
IGN: Lastly…Your message to fans who are concerned about Deadpool, those who only got a glimpse of you –
REYNOLDS: And I wasn't even the Deadpool that they knew.
IGN: Exactly…What would be your message to them to assuage their fears about the upcoming movie?
REYNOLDS: If they can imagine if one of them were given the opportunity to do a Deadpool movie, just imagine that's what's happening. Just to have faith in that. And to have faith in the studio. It's hard for fans to do that, but I feel like they really want to do an authentic Deadpool movie….He's like Jason Bourne meets Phantom of the Opera by way of Caddyshack. And that, right there, is a wholly originally character, and that's what excites the dark overlords who fund this film. And me.
