Here’s the A-lister who helped Ryan Reynolds after he was in ‘actor jail’
A little practical magic picked Ryan Reynolds right back up.
The actor, 48, revealed that it was his “Proposal” co-star, Sandra Bullock, 61, that helped him after he garnered a few misses on his resume.
While at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, Reynolds spoke about some of those poorly received movies, including the 2011 action sci-fi “Green Lantern” and the 2013 action comedy “R.I.P.D.”
“This is a stage in my career where I’m not ready to have authorship. I’m really trying to show up, make the people I’m working with happy, and that’s my job, you know?” the star acknowledged during a conversation at TIFF.
After the festival played a clip of him and Bullock in the 2009 rom-com, Reynolds noted, “When you’re working with someone like Sandra, if you work with a great tennis player, you just get better. Batting the ball with her was a dream, and I got better.”
“At this point, I’m a little bit… I’m in actor jail,” he admitted about his life in 2014.
Reynolds explained to the audience that he was “not getting a lot of work” due to having “some highly publicized bombs” following the superhero movie. The project had a reported $200 million budget but only raked in $220 million globally.
The back to back misses made Reynolds feel like he had “no authorship” over his career.
“If I’m going to fail, I’d rather be the architect of my own demise, and if I’m going to succeed, I want to be the architect of that win,” he continued. “I started to think about it a little bit differently and take authorship in that situation. That changed my entire life. I wouldn’t have been able to do that had I not worked with people like Sandra, worked with incredible actors like Rachel Weisz.”
Weisz, 55, and Reynolds starred in the 2008 romcom “Definitely, Maybe” together.
The “Deadpool” vet explained that “just watching these people who’ve spent their lifetime perfecting a craft while I spent most of my life dicking around” taught him how to weather the storms in Hollywood.
“You’re watching, studying, and trying to learn, and allowing yourself to fail,” Reynolds noted.
Reynolds was in Toronto for the world premiere of the documentary, “John Candy: I Like Me,” which follows the life of the late comedian.
The “Spirited” star produced the doc while Colin Hanks directed.
Candy died at 43 after suffering a heart attack.
Both having hailed from Canada, Reynolds grew up a massive fan of the comic. He first watched him on the Canadian television sketch comedy show, SCTV.
“When you watch SCTV, some of those sketches look brilliant; they’re actually genius. And some are really terrible,” he reflected. “That’s what make it special. You see them experimenting and playing and really kind of enjoying the lack of perfection.”
“One of the things about John, he was a people pleaser, and he was struggling with mental health issues. Everybody deals with mental health issues. John was on the cusp of talking about it. But he was a people pleaser,” Reynolds explained.
“As a people pleaser, you don’t want to burden people with anything. And the only way to talk about mental health problems is to talk about them. You have to take a step forward and you have to talk about you.”
Reynolds, meanwhile, got his start on the teen Canadian drama “Fifteen.”
“I also skirted through it without any degree of fame. I don’t even think the editor saw the show,” the producer teased.
But being from Canada helped Reynolds adapt to his decades long career.
“It’s important to keep your head screwed on right. And Canada helped me with that. Canada was a third parent,” he shared. “That business is tough. It can destroy you. I have seen the illusion of it and sort of the thin ice.”
“A common denominator among Canadians is there’s a commitment to what’s right. Sometimes that can go too far,” continued Reynolds. “I know for a fact that, when I experience injustice, I tend to get really upset about it. I feel shame about it. Why didn’t I do something about it earlier? That mechanism allows Canadians to be more productive. I love to under-promise and over-deliver.”
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples
