Interview Interview

as an A-list star and restored Below: The Reynolds family some of his self-confidence after enjoys Ryan’s rise to stardom a string of movie flops. at Hollywood’s Walk of Fame was also one of the most profitable blockbusters in history someone to take myself seriously, Dead cool – it was shot for a tidy $60m, either. That’s been a side of me Life begins at 40, said Walter B. Pitkin. And after a chaotic less than half the usual budget for that I think has come through in ten years, agrees; as Jan Janssen discovers such tentpole projects. As soon as many of the characters I’ve played the box-office results were tallied and I knew exactly how I could for the opening weekend, Fox take Deadpool in a very different yan Reynolds is having “It’s proof that literally anything greenlit the sequel, which is now kind of direction that you’ve ever a very good year. In fact, can happen in Hollywood,” scheduled to hit theatres in May. seen any superhero take.” R he’s enjoying what he said Reynolds. In the process, Reynolds has The film has also vindicated describes as the ‘most rewarding’ “I always believed in the become one of an elite group of Reynold’s unwavering commitment time in his entire life. Married to character and, after a lot of false actors to be blessed with his own to the project and his unshakeable actress , the Canadian starts, it’s very gratifying to see personal superhero film franchise view that a self-loathing, cynical heartthrob has discovered the that it succeeded. It’s one of those and the kind of industry clout superhero would strike a chord kind of happiness and well-being cases of a dream coming true. and bankability that such status with the public. that he found frustratingly elusive And after we finally got the green commands. Not only is he now Another bonus for Reynolds in his twenties while chasing the light to do it, I spent so much time guaranteed future paycheques in was shooting both the original Hollywood dream. and energy getting ready for it that the $15m range, Deadpool gives Deadpool and the upcoming Now 41, Ryan has seen his my wife thought the line between him the added satisfaction of sequel in his native fortunes amass in the wake of Ryan and Wade (aka Deadpool) playing a character whose wise- where he was able to reconnect smash success Deadpool, the was getting thin and confused. cracking, irreverent personality with his family and many of his highest grossing R-rated film of all I like to think of Deadpool as an bears a fair resemblance to his childhood friends. time. He personally lobbied 20th alter-ego of mine!” own swaggering, sarcastic self. “I might be declared persona Century Fox for over a decade to His trash-talking, foul- “There was a lot about his non grata in the future because make the film, and persisted in his mouthed, angst-ridden, comic sense of humour and way of of all the traffic problems faith even after studio executives book outsider (suffering from looking at things that I related to,” we’ve created in the city,” kept slamming doors in his face. terminal cancer no less) was an explains Reynolds. smiles Reynolds. But when the slick, self-mocking instant hit with audiences and “He doesn’t take himself In the meantime, he has action comedy finally saw the light immediately resurrected Reynolds seriously and I’ve never been appeared in last summer’s The of day in 2016, it surpassed even Hitman’s Bodyguard which pulled Reynolds’s wildest expectations by in almost $200m and confirmed earning $800m at the worldwide that he has recaptured his draw box office. Had the film bombed, card. Reynolds couldn’t be more he might have been relegated to satisfied with the way things have years of indie movie irrelevance, fallen in place for him. but he never doubted himself or “I’m very happy to be where the character’s ability to connect I am now. I didn’t have that good with mass audiences. a time in my 20s, but when I hit 29 I had an early mid-life crisis and then I started to make up for ‘MY WIFE THOUGHT THE lost time and began having more LINE BETWEEN RYAN AND fun. But my life now is very good.” WADE (AKA DEADPOOL) Reynolds is quick to credit his Above: Scott has won a series WAS GETTING THIN AND CONFUSED. I LIKE TO THINK wife Blake Lively for his renewed of tournaments and obtained OF DEADPOOL AS AN optimism and relief from the the World No.1 slot last year ALTER-EGO OF MINE!’ anxiety that has bedevilled him for Below: Balancing family life RYAN REYNOLDS much of his life. They first met on with his career will be a new the set of (2011), ➤ challenge for Scott

14 Upward Curve April-June 2018 Interview

“I grew up in a house full of father had set for him as household as a kid was a pretty testosterone: I’m the youngest of a public servant. He earned his stressful place and part of why ‘I THINK THE ANXIETY MIGHT HAVE STARTED four boys, and my dad was a cop, first acting gig as a teenage I wanted to do it was to get out THERE, TRYING TO FIND and that’s intense. For whatever performer on the of the house. I was right at the WAYS TO CONTROL OTHERS reason, I always got along great series Fifteen. age where I started to feel BY TRYING TO CONTROL MYSELF. AT THE TIME, with girls... I love having girls “I was 13, and we got to do everything. I just felt like a I NEVER RECOGNISED THAT. because I remember what it was improv at school, and it really skin-covered antenna. One day I WAS JUST A TWITCHY KID’ like in my house growing up where unlocked my imagination,” casting directors from Nickelodeon RYAN REYNOLDS us guys would destroy the house recalled Reynolds. showed up and asked every high when our parents were out. “I discovered I loved to school drama teacher to send four (Ryan’s first venture into super- “My life is so much better now. be adventurous and wild. My drama students to audition. ➤ hero territory), which was an Having a family means that you unmitigated financial and critical stop worrying about a lot of stupid disaster, and nearly torpedoed things and you start focusing on his career along with box-office the present. I remember how flops;Safe House, R.I.P.D., and I used to get bored when people Mississippi Grind. would show their baby pictures, Adding to his misery was the and I wanted to jump out of the collapse of his marriage to actress window after parents would in 2010. Their show me baby photos on their turbulent three years together had phone displays.” left him an emotional wreck and “Since I’ve become a father Reynolds was desperately in need now I’m the guy who can’t stop of a positive, uplifting presence in taking photos of my kids and his life. Ryan and Blake became showing them to my friends. friends while shooting Lantern and And when other people show me she would even bake him cakes photos of their children I’m very – cooking is one of her passions – open to that and I’ll start asking on the set. Even though they didn’t questions about how they get their become romantically involved on kids to go to sleep and different set, they still sensed an attraction things about parenting.” to each other. Reynolds has also admitted It therefore came as little that Lively has been a major surprise to his close friends that calming influence in his world. Reynolds reached out to Lively He began suffering from anxiety to explore whether that initial as the youngest of four brothers spark was real. growing up in Vancouver in Barely a year after his divorce a household that feel under from Johansson was final, Ryan the draconian discipline of his and Blake were married, and policeman father. in 2013 they relocated to the “[My] father was tough. idyllic Westchester County town He wasn’t easy on anyone.” of Bedford in upstate New York. Reynolds explained. They still live there today with their “And he wasn’t easy on two daughters, James, three, and himself. I think the anxiety might Ines, who turns two in September. have started there, trying to find “I’m just fine[as I am] being ways to control others by trying surrounded by oestrogen,” to control myself. At the time, admitted Reynolds. I never recognised that. I was just a twitchy kid.” Right: Reynolds and Lively at As a teenager, Reynolds the 67th Annual Cannes Film took to acting as a means of Festival in 2014, eight months releasing tension and embarking before James was born on a different path from which his

April-June 2018 Upward Curve 17 “I wasn’t picked, but I said, I think I was also rebelling against raining. I would sometimes show Above: Reynolds at the Hol- ‘I’m going down [anyway].’ So my family profession [police up at auditions with my clothes lywood Walk of Fame Star I took the bus, 45 minutes each officers]. It was either that or drive soaking wet and hoping no one ceremony in December 2016 way, down [to the cattle call] after forklifts or work at Safeway. When would notice too much. Eventually Below: World premiere of school for three days until I drove to , I didn’t even I got doors put on the Jeep.” Green Lantern in 2011 I was the last fellow standing, tell my boss at Safeway that I was The gamble paid off and got hired, and I was soon on leaving. I didn’t tell my parents Reynolds would gain traction engineered his own screen a plane to Florida [where the either, so they were shocked when as a rom-com heartthrob with comeback in the guise of series was filmed]. The show they found out what I was doing appearances in Definitely, Maybe, a Deadpool, a highly conflicted paid something like $200 a day, and that I wasn’t planning on Chaos Theory, [released in anti-hero whose existential but I still kept my paper route for coming back home.” 2008] and The Proposal [2009]. musings mirrored his own angst. another two years.” At first he thought he would The latter film saw him co-star For the time being at last, there After graduating high school, quickly take Hollywood by storm opposite with are no clouds on his horizon. ■ he spent six months studying until he found himself competing whom he had a brief affair. at Kwantlen Polytechnic, a local against many similar good-looking Indeed, Reynolds was community college, until he actors who all shared the same regarded as one of Hollywood’s realised that he was wasting his ambition of becoming a star. most eligible bachelors in his late time and needed to pursue acting Things definitely didn’t get off to twenties and early thirties and was dreams in Hollywood. Ryan knew a good start. “I got my first taste even named People Magazine’s that his father would be angry with of how life might be different from ‘Sexiest Man of the Year’ in 2010. him, so he drove all the way to Los that in Canada the first day He wasn’t necessarily a player, Angeles without telling him what I arrived in L.A.,” said Reynolds. however. Ryan spent nearly his real plans were. “I spent 26 hours driving from five years in a relationship with “I was thinking of becoming Vancouver down the coast and pop star, and fellow Canadian, a fireman,” explained Reynolds. when I arrived, I parked my until they went “I had actually started studying Jeep outside this seedy hotel separate ways in 2007. for the entrance exam but then in and took my Morissette was so taken with a friend told me that I didn’t bags to the room. Reynolds that she even wrote have a chance because the fire “One hour later I noticed that a song that is generally believed department had a mandate to hire my Jeep was gone and I found to be a tribute to their romance – women and visible minorities. it a few blocks down the road Torch, with its telling lyric, ‘I miss “Since I didn’t qualify in either with the doors and the radio your smell and your style.’ category and I was getting bored missing. So I spent the next Today, Reynolds is one of in college, one day I just thought four months driving around in Hollywood’s authentic success I should drive down in my Jeep to L.A. without any doors on my car stories. He never gave up on L.A. and see what would happen, which is a huge pain when it’s himself and, against all odds,

18 Upward Curve April-June 2018