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The Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds has earned millions of fans worldwide by starring in several popular Hollywood films over his long acting career. But, his breakout role was playing Deadpool in the eponymous 2016 film and its sequel, released in 2018. His other notable films include The Proposal, Adventureland, Buried, Mississippi Grind, Free Guy, Red Notice, Spirited, and IF, to name a few.
The Hollywood A-lister is known for being extremely charming, funny, witty, and talented. His fan base has grown further with his social media presence, where his followers get to enjoy his true persona and witty sense of humor. Adding to his wholesome personality is the fact that he is a dedicated family man to his four children and gorgeous wife, Blake Lively.
Below is a list of 5 lesser-known facts about Ryan Reynolds
1) His initial interest in playing Deadpool was not sparked by the comic book
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The story of how Ryan Reynolds came to play the foul-mouthed superhero is widely reported. He spoke about it in an interview with Latino Review in 2009:
“Ya, I love the character. I’ve always loved the character. I remember reading one of the Deadpool comic books, and somebody asked Deadpool what he looks like. And he said he looks like a cross between a Shar-Pei and Ryan Reynolds."
He continued:
"And I was like, I really, really wanna play this guy at some point. I thought it was pretty cool. It’s a guy that knows he’s in a comic book. How hard is it to shoot that properly? That’s not something they put in Wolverine nor would it belong in that universe.”
However, it seems it may not have been his first spark of inspiration to play the superhero after all. According to the correct sequence of events, the said comic book Cable and Deadpool #2 was released in April 2004. However, the director and screenwriter David S. Goyer had spoken about casting Ryan as Deadpool almost two months before the comic book's release in February 2004.
Hot on the heels of wrapping up filming on Blade: Trinity with Reynolds, Goyer said the following in a February 2004 interview with IGN:
"I want to do something else with Ryan Reynolds because I really loved working with him....So, "Deadpool'" came up as a possibility. We would completely reinvent it. We can't connect it to Weapon X or anything like that. We'll see."
2) He overcame his fear of flying while shooting Green Lantern
As a teenager, Ryan developed a fear of heights after a bad skydiving experience in which his parachute failed to open, leading him to free-fall from the sky. During an interview with Ann Curry on The Today Show to promote Green Lantern in 2011, Ryan said the following:
"I have problems with airplanes.....In the film, I'm up on high-wires flying all the time, all over the place ... It was really interesting and really terrifying at first."
However, he revealed his inspiration for overcoming his fear of heights while shooting the film by saying:
"I don't mean to make it sound too altruistic, but my nieces and nephews were just so excited about this movie and I kept thinking about them getting to come see this film. You kind of get over all that crap... After the 17th, 18th time of doing it, you say, 'Hey, this is actually a little bit of fun.'"
3) He wanted to be a soccer player growing up
The Canadian hunk grew up playing soccer from the age of six until he turned 16. He was very dedicated to the sport but had to accept that he would never be good enough to make a career out of it.
Nevertheless, he found a way to stay connected to the sport by becoming co-owner of the Welsh football club Wrexham with his good friend Rob McElhenney in November 2020.
4) He was initially interested in playing a different DC Comics superhero
Way before donning the famous red suit for Deadpool and green suit for Green Lantern, Ryan had his sights set on a different DC Comics character: Flash. He was in talks with Warner Bros. in 2005 to star as Barry Allen and his alter ego Flash in a movie, but the plans fell through.
Similarly, in 2008, Ryan came close to voicing the Wally West version of the superhero for a video game by Bottlerocket Entertainment. Again, the project failed to materialize.
5) He underwent a massive transformation for Blade: Trinity
In order to play the role of Hannibal King on his first Marvel appearance in Blade: Trinity, Ryan put on 25 lbs (11 kg) of muscle in three months' time. For this, he was put on a strict 3200-calorie-per-day diet and worked out six days a week. After more than two decades of filmmaking, Ryan, who is currently 47, has kept his same type of physique.
Ryan Reynolds will next be seen in the highly-anticipated superhero movie, Deadpool & Wolverine slated for release on July 26, 2024.
