The jack of all trades, Ryan Reynolds is one of the most renowned actors in the movie industry. The actor is immensely entertaining to watch because of his dialogue delivery, wit, and charm. People are addicted to watching the Deadpool actor because his swift and ingenious sense of humor makes him a master of savage replies and well-timed jokes. As a result, actors tend to enjoy working alongside Reynolds and he tends to bring forth a jolly and positive environment on the set.
The Free Guy actor has a collaborative nature, and in his career, he has worked with a number of celebrities in his career. However, Ryan Reynolds had a nerve-racking moment in his career, when he decided to work alongside Denzel Washington for the 2012 thriller film, Safe House.
Ryan Reynolds Faced Denzel Washington’s Wrath in Safe House
Ryan Reynolds has always been a massive fan of Denzel Washington, and his dream came true when he collaborated with his idol for Safe House. Since Washington was his idol, the Red Notice actor wanted to impress his idol but in the process, he managed to make the Oscar winner furious. During a hilarious interview with David Letterman, the Buried actor shared that he managed to provoke his co-star when he was continuously annoying his co-star in the middle of a pivotal scene in the film.
“So Denzel’s doing this scene and I guess my bony little a** is pressing the button on the phone. With Denzel, you know, you get one or two takes and it’s brilliant and you move on. And you know my butt’s pressing this button and suddenly I hear, he starts singing ‘Come fly with me, come fly let’s fly away,’ so I guess I activated the iPod on the thing, so there’s music now playing in the scene!”
Ryan Reynolds continued that everyone on the set including Denzel Washington was upset about the background activity as this was a “really intense” shot, and he came up with a brilliant plan on the spot.
“I want to be legally dead at this point I ruined the scene. But, I’m not going down with strike three this time either, so I got a plan. This is bad. I’m hearing rumblings behind the camera, people are kind of freaking out.”
“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!’”
However, that’s not all, as Ryan Reynolds was extremely upset with himself, as he accidentally gave two black eyes to Denzel Washington.
Ryan Reynolds Is Embarrassed To Give Two Black To Denzel Washington
Safe House was released in 2012 and it was a thriller film that kept the audience at the edge of their seats. However, the behind-the-scenes of the movie is immensely hilarious, one such instance was when Washington got two black eyes from his co-star. And even after 11 years, Reynolds is quite embarrassed to talk about it.
During the fourth season of My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman, Reynolds stated that they were filming a scene “in an out-of-control car” where he would “smash” Washington in the face. He added the fact that there were no stunt drivers because they were racing on the streets of Cape Town, South Africa.
“There’s a scene in the movie … where he crawls through the trunk in the back and he grabs me and chokes me. We were really driving a car at top speed. He and I are in this out-of-control car, and my corner of my head — I felt it hit his eye so hard I was sure that it split wide open.”
The actor continued that he felt he would be either fired or killed for the incident.
“I’m thinking I’m going to be sent home via crematorium — like, it’s over right now, this is it, not only my career but my actual pulse will cease.”
But Reynolds added that his co-star was gracious about it, as he knew that accidents happen while filming a movie and insisted that the same scene could be shot from the other side. But during the retake, Reynolds got the other eye of Washington, giving him two black eyes making him look like a “Christmas ornament.”
“He was fine. He was like, ‘Hey, accidents happen. Let’s do it again. We’ll shoot it from the other side so we can keep shooting so we don’t see this,'” Reynolds recalled his costar saying.
“We did it again. I got the other eye, Dave. For a minute he looked like a Christmas ornament. Yeah, I wanted to die.”
Working with Ryan Reynolds would never give his co-stars a dull time as Washington had praised how working with him in Safe House was lively. The actor not only brought undeniable talent to the table but also humor into a serious work environment that helps to uplift the creative process of other actors.
Safe House can be streamed on DIRECTV.
Source: The Late Show With David Letterman
