Author: Emma Loggins
Date: 2009-08-20

Interview:


Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds is set to enjoy his biggest year to date with star turns in ensemble comedy Adventureland, comic-book blockbuster Wolverine and romantic comedy The Proposal. He has already shone in the likes of Just Friends; Definitely, Maybe; and the remake of the horror movie The Amityville Horror. He also led crime actioner Smokin' Aces. He is married to actress Scarlett Johansson and, in person, is both smart and funny. In Adventureland he plays Mike Connell, a technician at a theme park, who's having an affair with a much younger girl (Kristen Stewart's Em Lewin)...

Was it difficult to make such a roguish character so charming?

Ryan Reynolds: Why thank you very much. It wasn't my goal to make him that likeable, so I failed you! Again. {laughs} Yeah, it was fun. I liked that there is no real villains or heroes in this movie. I feel like it's a lot like life, you know, people have complexities and they have their heroic moments and their villainous moments. I will say that with this cast I've never felt so old {laughs}. It was a routine of humility. Obviously this guy is having a pretty inappropriate relationship with this very, very young girl, but the spirit on the set, it really felt like where I was eight or nine years ago. It was like a pretty cool place to be each day.

Have you ever had what seemed like a dead-end job?

Ryan Reynolds: Yeah, I worked at a restaurant in Vancouver. I shouldn't even name it! It was a restaurant in Kitsilano and I was a busboy there, but no one ever really ate there. I think I was actually working for Peruvian drug lords. This was my thought. {laughs} I had like this abusive boss who had a fuse that was absolutely minimal at best, and I worked there all day. And then at night, I would work at a grocery store the graveyard shift, you know, throwing fresh fruit at my co-workers.

And this was when you were a struggling actor?

Ryan Reynolds: Yeah. I mean I was a struggling actor, as much as I could be in Vancouver. I mean you can only play so many ex-Falcon Crest stars' sons in so many 'movies of the week' before you just you burn out {laughs}! So yeah, I was kind of doing that to supplement my happiness, believe it or not.

What did you make of Twilight star Kristen Stewart, your co-star on Adventureland?

Ryan Reynolds: Kristen is great. She's really great. Obviously life has changed for her in a pretty drastic way since then. So it was kind of cool to see her talking about this thing called Twilight she might do!