You don’t want to be on Denzel Washington’s bad side, especially when he is playing one of the most dangerous men in the world. In 2012, Ryan Reynolds joined forces with the industry veteran in Safe House, which witnessed the Deadpool Star playing a rookie agent named Matt Weston, while Washington played the rogue agent Tobin Frost.
But things went a little south during one of the car chase sequences after Reynolds accidentally gave the Oscar winner a black eye. And considering Washington was playing the role of a violent sociopath, it didn’t help calm the situation, as Reynolds feared his career might be over.
Ryan Reynolds Was Assured His Career Was Over After He Accidentally Hurt Denzel Washington
During the car chase scene, where Reynolds’ Weston is trying to get away from some baddies while Washington’s Frost was handcuffed in his trunk, in the middle of the chase Frost breaks himself free. This results in the character choking Weston while still being handcuffed, but things went south after Ryan Reynolds accidentally hurt his costar for real during the filming process. Following this, Washington did put the fear of god in Reynolds, stating “I’ve never had a black eye in my life, but I can’t say that anymore.” Reynolds felt extremely bad while fearing his acting days were over.
“I practically had to wear an adult diaper before this, before doing a fight scene with Denzel.” He said, “I’ve seen ‘Hurricane‘! And now I’ve given him a black eye! That was my early retirement — time to go home. That first look he gave me after it happened, it was definitely real, and my face was on fire.”
Fortunately for the Deadpool Star, Denzel Washington didn’t hold grudges against the Marvel actor for long, as Reynolds later joked about the situation, expressing “I’m glad I was his first.”
Ryan Reynolds’ Genius Plan to Escape Embarrassment
This wasn’t the only time Ryan Reynolds was deeply embarrassed during the filming of Safe House as during one of the scenes, he accidentally activated his iPod. Considering Denzel Washington is a perfectionist, it doesn’t take more than one or two takes to get the perfect outcome, so when Reynolds’ iPod ruined one of the takes, it’s reasonable to see why Reynolds was stressed. But fortunately for the Deadpool Star, he had the perfect plan under his sleeve to escape Washington’s wrath. Reynolds recalled,
“Right at the end of the scene they call cut and you just hear everyone freak out behind the camera, ‘Who the hell’s cell phone is that?’ Denzel looks over and goes, ‘Who the hell’s cell phone is that?’ They all look at me and I just stand up and I’m like, ‘Who’s f***ing cell phone is that? Come on,’”
But despite the few hiccups, Reynolds had a good time working alongside one of his favorite actors, and even though Safe House didn’t score very high among critics, it did decent at the box office.
Safe House is available to rent on Apple TV.
Source: IndieWire
