It's been a busy year for Ryan Reynolds so far this 2009 but he stormed onto the big screen earlier this summer with X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
The actor took on the role of Deadpool, and there are already talks of a standalone movie for the character.
Everyone is talking about how buff Hugh got, but you got pretty muscular yourself.
Thank you! No, Hugh got buff, there’s no denying that. But I try not to be a slacker. When you stand in a room with Hugh Jackman you should at least be able to compete in a thumb wrestling war.
Hugh got in crazy shape. Actually, I think it’s legally classified as 'terrifying shape.' He got there towards the end, touched it a few times. I don’t think people should be in that kind of shape unless they’re professionally making necklaces out of people’s teeth.
So you did a lot of training, not eating, that sort of stuff?
Yeah. Well, lots of eating. It’s just the opposite. You can eat lots of things. You’re just not pounding back the pizza at night.
Did you gain weight?
Yeah, I guess so.
How much?
I never weigh myself, so I don’t know.
And when you take it home to the missus, I’m sure she appreciates it.
It’s not a weapon! It’s alright. Everything works out the way it should, I suppose. I’m going to avoid that question.
You’ve been a fan of Deadpool for a long time. How much did you want the part?
I’ve been a fan of Deadpool for almost a decade. I was first introduced to it by my brother. Then I gradually followed it for a few years after that. I saw one of the comics a few years ago where Deadpool referred to himself as a cross between a Sharpe and Ryan Reynolds.
I just thought that was the coolest thing I had ever heard. So when I heard about the movie I knew I was going to do the film, even if I had to kill some studio head’s pets. A few years ago I was talking to Fox about possibly doing a Deadpool standalone movie.
I think they found it to be a little too complicated to try to tackle. Specifically because he’s a cult favorite. He’s not a mainstream character. So what better way to introduce him than in this movie?
I heard about six months before this went into production that they were thinking about putting Deadpool into this movie, but it wasn’t sure. Then kind of at the last minute they called and said, 'We’re doing it! Are you in?' And I said, 'Well, of course I am, but I’m starring in two other movies, I don’t know how I’m going to do it.'
So they shot the whole film, and in the reshoots they shot me for the first time. This was why people thought they were adding more Deadpool, but they weren’t, I hadn’t shot any footage up to that point because I was too busy making these other films. Which are good problems to have.
Any idea who wrote that line about you in the comic?
You know, I don’t know who wrote that particular issue. It’s had multiple writers over the years. I’ve got the panel on my wall in a frame, maybe I should find out. And thank him. Or her. You never know, equal opportunity.
You take on many diverse roles. How do you decide what you’re going to do?
I’ve been lucky. I can go from one genre to another and it’s not a huge issue. People used to do that. Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, they’d jump all over the place. I feel Hugh does that pretty well.
He’s as comfortable on a Broadway stage as he is with claws and a tank top. Mostly I just consider myself lucky. I don’t have a specific rhyme or reason as to why I think it is, but it’s probably because I haven’t had astronomical success in one genre. If I had done Spider-Man, it would probably be tougher to jump into Adventureland or something.
Do you have a preference towards a specific type of film?
No. I love movies, man. Totally. In some ways it’s easier to do something like this than it is a comedy. Because for a comedy I feel like you need a whole orchestra around you. There’s a timing, a musicality to it. It’s a science, and there’s something very interesting about that. But this is just fun.
They taped your mouth up at the end, right?
Yeah, I wasn’t happy about that.
But I’ll bet everyone else was!
I think so! It certainly served the story. But that is where they detoured a bit from the origins. I mean, Deadpool is the 'Merc with the Mouth.' It took a long time. It took four hours just to get it on, and four more hours to get it off. For some people, that’s an entire work day.
People that wear loafers, typically. But it sucked to eat lunch and that sort of thing. I would snort a steak. I would just lay it down like it was the 80’s and go for it. No, we’d have to cut it open and it required a PA to feed it to me.
How many days of shooting was that?
In the Deadpool makeup it was a couple of weeks. My skin was not loving that after a while. It’s a pretty awful experience getting that on and off each day. If we ever did a Deadpool movie, the mask would relieve some of that issue, but I would never want to be in that makeup more than three days in a row.
Are there any other comic book characters you’d like to play?
Not really. I’ve never been a big fan of comics, other than Deadpool. There are others I admire. The Green Lantern. I will play Wolverine one day!
X-Men Origins: Wolverine is released on DVD 19th October.
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