Ryan Reynolds is an incredibly famous and loved actor in Hollywood as well as the world. Throughout his career, the actor has played various roles and his ability to transition between comedic and dramatic roles has immensely helped Reynolds to stand out as an actor. The Proposal actor’s career elevated in 2016 when he first starred as Wade Wilson/ Deadpool because in that year several superhero movies were released, but Deadpool remained on top.
Fox’s R-rated film was an instant success and it grossed over $782 million. Later, people learned that Ryan Reynolds was pushing for a standalone film of the antihero, making him one of the greatest actors to play a superhero role. However, the actor was not so popular in the superhero genre because of Green Lantern, a disastrous movie by DC that was a Box Office disappointment. As a result, the actor’s career nose-dived, and filmmakers were uncertain to have him in their films.
Ryan Reynolds Shares The Aftermath of Green Lantern’s Failure
In an exclusive edition of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, the Just Friends actor sat with Taraji P. Henson. During the conversation, Ryan Reynolds shared that Green Lantern’s failure had a disastrous effect on his career, as it almost hit a brick wall because he was “unhirable” after the results of the 2011 film.
“I represented the death of the superhero for a while. After Green Lantern, I was pretty much unhirable.”
Green Lantern was released in 2011, it was one of the first superhero films by Warner Bros. who were unsure what they wanted to do with the DC Comics characters. The film was horrible in every aspect and it was heavily bombed with negative reviews from the viewers and critics. The film had a dull storyline with a lot of plotholes, and many critics believed that the film lacked depth and development.
Moreover, the special effects of the DC film were heavily criticized, as it looked cartoonish and poorly executed, which failed to give an immersive experience to the fans of the character. And lastly, many viewers felt that the chemistry between Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively had no chemistry, and the characters were absolutely flat. Due to all these elements, the film could only earn $220 million worldwide despite having a massive budget of $200 million
Deadpool Saved Ryan Reynolds’ Acting Career
In the same interview, Ryan Reynolds stated that Deadpool saved his career because the movie impressed the critics and the audiences. However, getting the film to the production stage was no less than a battle for him because the R-rated film was extremely violent and it was not as popular as Wolverine or any other superhero character. But the film had a brilliant marketing campaign which aided the film to be a massive hit at the Box Office collecting $782.6 million worldwide.
“Deadpool was one of those things that was just so specific–it was like this weird superhero anarchy that I loved so much. I think I was in the superhero suit more in the marketing materials than I was in the actual film. Which is why I stole the suit at the end of production and just brought it home with me.”
Needless to say, Ryan Reynolds was outstanding in the film, he was praised for his humor, constant breaking of the fourth wall, and addressing the viewers directly was taken well by the audience and the critics. And he showed the mercenary’s vulnerable side with ease, which helped the film to get a sequel in 2018, and another sequel starring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Deadpool can be streamed on Disney+.
Source: Variety
