Reynolds now only works in this comedy comfort zone, with any action roles he signs up for (such as Michael Bay’s Netflix film 6 Underground) making sure to not deviate from this finely tuned persona. Whereas his persona once turned audiences off, it’s now successfully launching franchises, from Detective Pikachu to The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Like many comedians, his schtick was crafted in childhood as a defense mechanism, getting more fleshed out when he realised he could play towards it in acting roles.Īfter more than a decade of false starts, Reynolds now carved out a successful niche for himself, exclusively signing onto roles that play to his comedic strengths, whilst laughing at the very idea that a guy from Vancouver could ever become a world-famous box office draw. In that same interview, Reynolds spoke candidly for the first time about suffering from anxiety, and that in front of the cameras he was more comfortable retreating into his comedic persona. He added that he’s only comfortable in studio leading roles if he can essentially poke fun at the idea of being a stereotypical Hollywood lead, something that became central to his cinematic reinvention. In an interview with The New York Times to promote the release of Deadpool 2 in 2018, Reynolds said that this was very much by design – he enjoyed making Green Lantern, but wasn’t surprised it failed to find an audience due to his own discomfort with being a leading man. So while not everybody may have been in on the many jokes the film made at the expense of Green Lantern, or any number of Reynolds’ flops released before Deadpool, it proved surprisingly effective at re-establishing the actor as someone more willing than ever to be the butt of the joke. Where the brattier character traits in prior movie roles were a turn off for many, now he opted to lean into them even further with a knowing wink, poking fun at the comedic persona he was subtly reshaping. The fourth wall breaking aspects of Deadpool may have overestimated just how familiar audiences were with Reynolds at the time, but now all seem crucial in how they ensured viewers finally warm to the actor as a leading man. These are all great assets for an actor to have if they’re only cast to this type in comedy movies, but it makes it far harder for them to be warmed towards when cast as a straightforward hero figure in a blockbuster. He has the sarcasm and egotism of a conventional movie hero in the Han Solo vein, but with a quicker wit, and a false sense of self-awareness to being the smartest person in the room. To the casual viewer, the character of Deadpool works because it fits entirely with the screen persona synonymous with Reynolds since the release of Van Wilder in 2002.
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