CHUD INTERVIEW: RYAN REYNOLDS
On the set of The Amityville Horror
03.25.05
By Jason Pollock
I remember before Van Wilder hit, I thought - “Who is this Ryan Reynolds guy, and why is he toplining anything?”
After I saw Van Wilder on DVD - I realized. This sexy bastard is so utterly charismatic as to be completely unstoppable. He’s every bit as sharp and funny and unpretentious as you think he is. I hope the vibe in this interview is present in the read – ‘cause it was great fun. I wish you guys were there.
As we sat down, Reynolds noticed the folder I was carrying notes in was vintage WWF “Rowdy” Roddy Piper – and thus began a bit of reminiscing about the wonder of Hot Rod.
I told him that, back when I was doing a lot of stuff for the legendary grappler’s old website, people said that Reynolds would be perfect as Roddy in the proposed biopic.
“I would play Roddy Piper in a heartbeat.”
Classic.
Jason Pollock: And I’m supposed to let you know that you need to play Fletch.
Ryan Reynolds: Ahh…It’s been talked about, I know…
Jason Pollock: Has it really?
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah but it’s – I dunno…
Jason Pollock: Thinking about sticking to a more serious side of things for a while?
Ryan Reynolds: No - not at all. I mean, this year’s been amazing – I got to do an action thriller in Blade, straight-up comedy in Waiting. I get to do this unbelievable genre piece right here, and I do a romantic comedy right after this – so I got to do it all.
Another Guy: And Harold and Kumar-
Ryan Reynolds: You know, I always forget I’m in that! Like – “Oh yeah – I did a day on that movie!”
Jason Pollock: So…how daunting is it to step into the beard of James Brolin? I mean - that’s an…awfully big beard…
Ryan Reynolds: Oh shit…
No – It wasn’t that daunting. The first movie had literally no impact on me – just because I saw it so long ago and I didn’t want to see it right before this. I remember not really liking it all that much, either – I mean, it’s not a timeless classic. It’s such a perfect fit for a remake. It’s not sacrilege – you don’t sit back and…
Believe me, I was part of the team that brought you the In-Laws remake – I’ve learned now when to do it and when not to.
And it’s not even a remake, really! The original movie was so sort-of…off the Jan Ansen novel – it took so many liberties that I think we’re just exploring the stuff they left out.
Jason Pollock: So that kills my next question, which was did you go back and look at the original film and see how utterly bad it is?
Ryan Reynolds: I don’t want to say it was bad because it was what – 1979? For its time, I’m sure it was pretty damn good.
Jason Pollock: Yeah, sure – like the two little red lights…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah – like the pig eyes or whatever? You know I’m tryin’ to work that in somewhere on this movie.
I keep saying we should do two versions – like one’s the total spoof? It’s just a second take…and I’ll like, gravel up my voice a little bit (he slips into “tough guy” growl that would make Robert Loggia beam like a proud papa) and give you my best bottom-of-the-sac
"BRRROLIN."
(Laughing)
Sorry man...
Jason Pollock: So at no point then did you do any sort of research – like talk to George Lutz and get a vibe…?
Ryan Reynolds: No – it just would…not…help I don’t think. If this were a bio picture, maybe - but that’s not what we’re doing. We’re doing the story of this family...
And what I love is that it’s been a sort of psychological journey from the get-go. The director basically said, “You play the psychological thriller of it and I’m gonna’ do the horror” – so that, to me, has been the greatest wisdom I’ve heard doing this movie. I don’t have to play to the supernatural in this movie – I’m just gravitating to the psychology of George Lutz.
Jason Pollock: So you handle the emotional breakdown as if it’s just that, and not driven by the history of the place or the force that dwells…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah – just the document of this guy who walks into this house solid as an oak…with his family…and by Day Twenty-eight he’s as far away from them as he can possibly be - and how do we get from point A to point Z? It’s been fun each day to say, “Oh, we’re on ‘C’ today, we’re on ‘D’ today, we’re on ‘X’ today…
The Shakespearean adage, you know – Dying’s easy, comedy’s hard? I don’t think that’s true at all. Dying’s hard. Drama is really hard. Each day this is intense.
One among us asks: Do you want to do more horror movies…?
Ryan Reynolds: I don’t feel like I’m doing a horror movie – I’ve never at any point during this movie felt like we’re doing a horror movie. It’s not what I pictured. Coming in I was like, “Are we going to have those days where I leave and I’m a little embarrassed for what we shot today?” And I haven’t had that once. I can’t tell you how grateful I am. I’ve done a 180 since I showed up here…
At first, it was the usual agency push - saying, “It would be great if you did something completely different than you’ve ever done before” – and so I thought I’d come in and try my hand at something different – having very little expectation as to what I’d find. And you know, I’ve been so thrilled every day. It’s just blown all of my expectations out of the water. I’ve haven’t left once thinking, “Wow, I made some seriously false moves today” - or that I faked it or phoned it in. These guys are great. Andrew Douglas is so…gentle, for lack of a better term, with every moment. You can talk to him about every beat for hours. We can stop filming to talk about it. And we can talk about it until we get there. We haven’t left any scene until we got it. I’d love to do more horror movies if they’re like this. I don’t think they are though. Typically, they’re chasing people around…
This has a psychological aspect to it that I’ve not seen in a genre movie since really…The Others. The Others had that – and we’re definitely not trying to ape that…
Jason Pollock: But the notion that something a bit deeper can be there in that movie – or this one –
Ryan Reynolds: That’s been the most interesting aspect for me. George has these Jungian aspects – he’s acting out his shadow in this house. He walks in as this guy who’s so self-posessed…
His downfall is hubris. Pride takes him down. He walks in and says, “I can do this” – but he can’t afford the house. He’s bringing his step kids – they aren’t his kids – he’s trying to do right by this woman that he’s not really even in love with – he’s infatuated with her, but he hasn’t even really begun the journey of healing her and loving her…It’s all just too big for him, and he’s done in halfway through the movie by his shadow – who is this other guy who’s just completely and utterly mentally unhinged. It’s been cool to explore that.
Another asks: So your heart’s really in comedy?
Ryan Reynolds: Well…I’ll never go away from it – it’s so much fun.
Same Guy: It’s hard to make people laugh…
Ryan Reynolds: Trust me, I know – because I’ve done enough work where you don’t make anyone laugh when you’re trying to. But it’s just about trying to find the right roles. And again, this year’s been great for that – the Blade film was great because it was playing Indiana Jones. Who gets to play Indiana Jones when he’s 27? I love that. When I read it I couldn’t believe Goyer captured this in a guy that’s young – this is the kind of part that’s thrown out to Harrison Ford…
Another Guy: Are you doing the sequel?
Ryan Reynolds: They’re talking’ about it, but – you know…
Same Guy: Would you do it if they came to you?
Ryan Reynolds: I kind of have to. I’m contractually obliged to do the sequel. And it’s not even a sequel, really. It’s a spin-off.
Jason Pollock:And the upside?
(I turn off my recorder)
Jason Pollock: No one involved will have to deal with Wesley Snipes.
(The recorder is back on amid laughter)
Ryan Reynolds: He said it, not me – I’m in a buddy chat at home with Wesley right now. We’re peas in a pod…
Jason Pollock: What’s his handle? Is it like - ‘xBlade_Bongx’?
Ryan Reynolds: It’s probably like (whispery and intense) ‘watch_out’…
Did you say Blade Bong…!
I’d love to know what his handle is – he’s a very interesting fellow.
Jason Pollock: Do you think the book’s depiction of the Amityville events are true to life?
Ryan Reynolds: Well, six people were shot there, I know that much…
Jason Pollock: Six?
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah – I think so. I’m always afraid I’m saying the wrong thing, like – ‘Well, Manson was fuckin’ crazy - we all know that. But that uppity parole board ain’t lettin’ him out.’
Six people were killed…I believe that George Lutz went in there and had a breakdown. The supernatural elements, though…
Again - the great thing about my job on this movie is that I don’t have to worry about that. There isn’t a moment where I have to play anything supernatural. You can’t. I don’t know how you can, like - I don’t know how you can say, “…oh, and in this moment - he’s possessed by a demon! Sound…speed…we’re rolling…”
Wouldn’t you like…”What?” How could I relate to that in any way, shape, or form?
Jason Pollock: You could spit soup and talk backwards…
Ryan Reynolds: We did actually shoot some footage backwards…which was really fucking creepy. Unbelievable. Just slightly…in moments where George is looking at somebody…it just adds this whacked thing – I don’t know what it is…
Jason Pollock: Was it planned? Was it the cinematographer? Something in your performance?
Ryan Reynolds: It’s something Andrew Douglas thought up and I thought it was just a really peculiar way to tell a story and I loved it. It just looked so bizarre. It’s just a couple of places in the movie – let’s see if people can find them – and George is just like…the head movement and everything’s just a little bit off and it’s really cool.
Jason Pollock: Wow…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah…
Mmm…did I actually answer the question?
Jason Pollock: No. Let’s talk about another horror film you were part of…
Ryan Reynolds: Sure.
Jason Pollock: In Van Wilder, was it totally creepy making out with Tara Reid? Did you get a little bronzer on ya?
Ryan Reynolds: I got a sunburn making out with her. It was very strange.
Sorry.
No, if we’re going into that area – she probably got the contact high from me. But Tara Reid…wow. It’s funny – you work with some of the people in this business and you see that some of them are basically personalities.
Jason Pollock: Known more for what they do off screen than on…
Ryan Reynolds: She’s on her way to becoming one of those kind of iconic personalities.
Another Guy: I think you’re on your way to bein’ that…
Ryan Reynolds: I don’t know…
Same Guy: You’ve got a lot of good stuff coming out…
Ryan Reynolds: But I do not have an in with Paris.
Same Guy: I saw her two days ago at The Roxy.
Ryan Reynolds: Really?! You saw her out?!!
Same Guy: She was out dancin’ on a table in her little skirt-
Ryan Reynolds: Which one, Tara or Paris?
Same Guy: Paris.
Ryan Reynolds: Okay - that’s funny.
Same Guy: I was like, ‘Stay away, you might get an STD…”
Ryan Reynolds: Oh Jesus. Like they’re just flying around her…
Jason Pollock: Like an alien facehugger-
Ryan Reynolds: One comes up like a complete baboon and climbs right into my urethra!
Another Guy: Did you just get married?
Ryan Reynolds: No. No - I’m engaged.
(Reynolds is engaged to GOD – or Alanis Morrisette, when she’s not doing awkward handstands in the Askewniverse)
Same Guy: No one seems to know for sure.
Ryan Reynolds: Really?
Same Guy: I wanted to congratulate you, but I didn’t know…
Ryan Reynolds: Thank you very much. We’re very excited.
Different Guy: Do you like her music…off the record?
Ryan Reynolds: Of course I love her music! I’m…actually married…to Barbra Streisand.
Jason Pollock: And how does Brolin feel about that…?
Ryan Reynolds: I’m BRROLIN. From the moment I showed up here (this is followed by more inarticulate, gravelly-voiced growling)…
No, I love her music – I actually owned albums. She was in my library…and I’ve been stealing her music off of the internet for years!
Jason Pollock: I feel the same way - about Dave Matthews…
(The Dave Matthews tour bus feces fiasco erupted the night before this interview)
Ryan Reynolds: Oh me too, man – I’ve been firing shit cannons outta’ my tour bus for months!
Jason Pollock: It’s the right thing to do…
Ryan Reynolds: It’s the right thing to do depending on the city…
Depending on the city, it’s environmentally friendly – which is a mandate with Dave…
Yeah…Pisani’s like, “You’re FUCKED.”
Publicist John Pisani pipes up: I’m feeling like one of the people on that boat…
How many people get to drink the feces of a rock star? I mean - I can raise my hand to that.
(Laughter)
Jason Pollock: And then there are all of the women who toured with Led Zeppelin…
Ryan Reynolds: And that band was notorious for explosive diarrhea…
……fuck…we’re off topic.
Jason Pollock: It’s odd – that hasn’t happened with anyone else today…
Ryan Reynolds: No, I’m sure it hasn’t.
One of the other guys gets us back on track: What’s it like working with Melissa?
Ryan Reynolds: Fantastic. She’s so great. I don’t have an incredible amount of experience working in dramatic films. It’s a different animal – and she’s so ‘present’ – so ‘there’ in a scene, and when we’re off, we’re talking about all of the comedies we love. On comedies, you talk about great dramatic work, and here – we’re just quoting Anchorman…
One guy: I love lamp.
Ryan Reynolds: I ate a big red candle.
Jason Pollock: I stabbed a man in the heart with a trident!
Ryan Reynolds: I saw that – you should get outta’ here…
Jason Pollock: Great BRROLIN’S beard!
(Laughter)
Another Guy: Is there anyone you’d really like to work with in the future?
Ryan Reynolds: God. Ummm…
Jason Pollock: Wesley Snipes…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah! I plan…on…doing…a trilogy…in New Zealand…with Wesley…
No, there are so many…great…Canadians…who are dead.
John Candy…Chris Farley – I would have loved to do something with Chevy ten years ago…twenty years ago…
Someone else – He’s kinda’ past his prime these days.
Ryan Reynolds: I don’t know that he’s past his prime – I just read a really interesting article…
Jason Pollock: That Entertainment Weekly piece…?
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah! You know, I found myself exuding a shitload of empathy for him – and really kinda’ getting behind him and wanting to see him come back and kick ass.
Jason Pollock: Absolutely.
Ryan Reynolds: I’m a huge Bill Murray fan – I feel like he’d be fun to watch. I don’t even know if I want to work with him – I’d just like to maybe be a grip on his next movie…I think he’d be a lot of fun, Bill.
I think you’d make a good grip.
Yeah? I think so too.
Jason Pollock: Strong hands…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah…strong hands…kinda’ burly…callouses – they’ll never go away now, the callouses…
Another journo: Someone said you had the Fight Club look.
Ryan Reynolds: That lasted about ten minutes.
Jason Pollock: I’m actually supposed to ask how in the hell you did that. Obviously, with a trainer – but what was the regimen?
Ryan Reynolds: Your diet just becomes a science experiment. You’re measuring everything, and you’re putting like ten more calories in you body than you can actually use in a day…it’s just stupid. You have no life. Three hours a day of just intense working out - six days a week. One rest day. You get one cheat day every two weeks…it’s just…
Another of us – Did you keep working out?
Ryan Reynolds: I have. I definitely have – I wanted to keep little bit of it for Lutz. I wanted to add a little layer…
Jason Pollock: Of Brolin.
Ryan Reynolds: Yes! No. He’s just – he’s a blue collar guy. He’s been working his whole life, so I didn’t want to shrink back to…noodley…me. I wanted to keep a bit of that size. I’m twenty pounds heavier than I was a year and a half ago. It doesn’t sound like much, but it’s weird to have your body change that much. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done – and to Jessica Biel’s credit, she was right there with me. Every day we were working out, we we’re doing it together – and that girl just -- Poof – looked like Linda Hamilton by the end.
Jason Pollock: Linda Hamilton 1992…or Linda Hamilton now?
Ryan Reynolds: She looked like Bea Arthur by the time we were done…I don’t know what she was eating …she looked like…Tom Selleck. The transformation - incredible.
Jason Pollock: If you ditched the beard and kept the ‘tache you’d be a bit o’ the Selleck…
Ryan Reynolds: You know – as soon as we finished Blade I shaved my beard to do another movie called Waiting, and um…I left the mustache. Just the mustache. Just the worst…and I showed up to the set in New Orleans.
And Rob McKittrick, the director – we sat down for drinks the first night I got there. And it took him a half-hour to ask me…”So…um…facial hair…now – hoo! Like what do you want to do…with that…? Do you want to…to um…keep that? Or do you…? How do you…? What do you think of the mustache?”
It took him like – a half an hour to spit it out. And I was like, “I love it! I don’t see the character without it…I don’t see myself in New Orleans without it.”
One guy: Mustache rides all day.
(Laughter, groans, pain…)
Jason Pollock: Ohhhh YEAH!!
Ryan Reynolds: …jesus christ…
Alanis chased me around the house…like, “What…the fuck…is on your face?” It was very cute.
Eventually I had to chop it off. I’m very sad about that.
Jason Pollock: Getting back to…there’s a movie you’re doing called The Amityville Horror…
Ryan Reynolds: Oh! Yeah…
Jason Pollock: It’s not such a stretch that a guy who has a house he can’t afford, and a screwy marriage, and a crumbling business –
…you know, I can’t help but think that when I go back over this tape I’ll find that we’ve already covered this – so I’ll shut up now.
Ryan Reynolds: No…
Jason Pollock: Well, I mean – he can’t be a father to the children. He can’t connect to his wife –
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah…the hardest thing – I call it ‘swallowing the shitburger’. You do it in comedy a lot. You take one for the team. You show your ass proverbially. You make yourself look like a complete putz…and inevitably the audience likes you more because you’ve been vulnerable with them. I fee like George does that a lot in the sense that he’s “victimy” – like adults get sometimes. They spiral into their own neurosis and the psychological mess they create.
Jason Pollock: Coulda’…woulda’…shoulda’ – have I made a mistake? Can I fix it? I’m a failure…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah – he slowly spirals down and…and the other elements involved are separate from him. The house wants him out and only him out. I don’t have to play that. He’s getting physically ill and mentally ill. The supernatural aspects of the film…are things George is just unaware of. He’s just finding himself further and further alienated from his family – and inevitably, from himself. And the house is doing it. But as the actor, I don’t have to worry about that.
Jason Pollock: The scene we saw shot earlier today…you’re in the basement, staring at the wall, fixated on two different things – the first take was this kinda’ antiquated torturous yoke, and then there’s sort of a run-off, a hole in the basement wall…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah, there’s a gutter in the wall. And George is a contractor, so he’s trying to figure out what that is. He’s fixated on it, but he’s not in any sort of psychosis yet. He just can’t sleep, and he’s not feeling well – and he doesn’t understand why he’s not feeling well – this is a guy who never gets sick, never feels bad, and is never really in a bad mood. Right now, he’s just having a really bad day.
Jason Pollock: So the house isn’t really taking him anywhere yet. He’s just feeling like shit – and he’s in the basement, which isn’t good…
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah - it’s discussed in the book, too. He’s in the basement. He spends a lot of time in the basement – and that’s where Ronnie DeFeo spent the majority of his time – where he basically lived. And the basement is next to the Red Room – and the Red Room is a very old and very dark part of this house. It’s part of the original construction of this, this like…Dutch Colonial in 1697 or so.
There’s this old and evil presence there – and he’s living next to it. That’s his office. He’s close to it – and Ronnie DeFeo was, as well – so there’s definitely a link between the Red Room and experiencing what the two of them experience.
Jason Pollock: It’s like living on a toxic spill.
Ryan Reynolds: It’s sucking something out of him and he doesn’t know it. And we treat the house sort of like an addiction too – he can’t seem to get away from it. He wants to be there. He needs to be there – he doesn’t even go to work, he just stays in the house.
And you watch the movie and see this as, “This guy’s being possessed” – but playing the role, I just see him going within – and losing touch with everything around him.
And eventually…going psychotic.
Jason Pollock: You know, she’s been therapeutic for me, and I think that if George just steeped some herbal tea and, you know…listened to a little Alanis. Maybe ‘Thank You’…?
(Laughing)
Ryan Reynolds: Yes! And some ‘That I will be Good’…
(Too much laughing)
Maybe some of the newest single ‘Everything’…from the album So-Called Chaos – In stores June 12.
(That he does this as the perfect “Gentle Voice Over Guy’ gets probably the biggest laugh of the day)
What…?
Jason Pollock: It’s just that we were so on-topic at that point…
Ryan Reynolds: EXACTLY! What the fuck was wrong? We were talking about the movie too much…
I have a question for you (to one of the others among us) – are you JoBlo?
JoBlo Gent: No.
Ryan Reynolds: Is there a JoBlo?
Same guy: There is a JoBlo – he just doesn’t come to these things.
Ryan Reynolds: I love all of these websites – I check them out. I read Nick’s column – The Steady Leak. Bloody Disgusting is a cool website – very red.
Jason Pollock: So as an audience member, do you dig the genre stuff – or is it not your thing?
Ryan Reynolds: I do – I dig this stuff. I’m not a fan of the chase ‘em/hack ‘em – I like the stuff I can relate to. The dark side of people – I can watch a movie and relate to moments where I’ve lost it – where I don’t necessarily act on it, but I thought – “Wow, I could hit a kid…”
Jason Pollock: Every day that goes through your mind, doesn’t it?
Ryan Reynolds: Striking children is the name of the game for me.
Jason Pollock: Striking Children is the name of the game from Milton Bradley!
(Laughter)
Ryan Reynolds: But it’s been cool because I’ve never done a movie where you affect – dealing with this subject matter is really affecting to people. You see it on the crew. I remember the day our script supervisor cried. I was doing a scene with one of the kids…
She’s like…seen it all, but I look up and she’s bawling over there – it just triggers certain things in people that they can relate to…when they’ve been in very difficult situations dealing with people who are just out-of-control.
And it’s not easy playing out-of-control because you become out of control. I’ve been struggling with that this whole movie. I’ve had scenes with these kids-
Another guy – How do you get to that place…?
I dunno’…I researched a lot of Imago therapy. It sounds so corny, but you gotta’ come from somewhere. It’s about…childhood wounds and the stuff you’ve held on to.
And the most profound thing I’ve realized is that it’s the exact same thing that triggers comedy – the exact same muscle, or whatever you wan to call it – that same storage bank of memories that you want to deny or hide. It’s all the same mechanism.
Jason Pollock: Well, comedy is tragedy plus time...
Ryan Reynolds: But with George – I just wanted to find his rage. And it’s weird - ‘cause a lot of people experience rage…but not a lot of people go looking for it. So it’s been…very strange…
I mean, my brother came over – my brother’s here right now – and we watched a scene sort of roughly assembled by the editor, and he was just bawling….’cause…I was…our dad.
My dad would lose it emotionally – so many parents are emotionally violent with their kids – not even physically, but…
I always say, “Spare the Rod – Damage the Child with Words”! Back when I was a kid parents just didn’t know any better and…you know…
And it was so…a moment…I had captured my dad. My brother was like, “Jesus Christ. You’re dad. You’re DAD.” And he was welling up and…he was much older than me so he experienced my dad when…
Jason Pollock: He was in his prime…
Ryan Reynolds: …of just like that…unconscious behavior. And it was just weird to sort of harness that kind of rage – then turn it off. Because you do things that you don’t mean to do. Like I’m doing scenes with these kids and I’m…
I’ve never done a scene where I don’t know what’s going to happen. Comedy’s so precise. You have to think about the objective. And this stuff is just blind rage. It’s very strange to deal with that every day. You have to turn it off somehow…which is why I watch Teletubbies when I get home.
Jason Pollock: Normally you don’t see that kind of behavior from Van Wilder.
(Laughter)
Ryan Reynolds: Yeah - I know!
At that precise moment, Reynolds is called back to the set.