Smokin' Ryan's chance to act
February 22, 2007 12:00am
Herald Sun
by Neala Johnson
SMOKIN' Aces star Ryan Reynolds talks about back-stabbing, breakdowns, bullies and puppy dogs.
It's hard not to watch your new film, Smokin' Aces, without thinking, "Finally, someone gives Ryan Reynolds a chance to act".
(Laughs) Well, I feel like the other films I've done, they're as much of a performance as anything else -- if not more. It's more difficult to find the music in comedy, and it's certainly a lot more groundwork at the beginning. In some ways doing dramatic work is a vacation -- emotionally it isn't, but in terms of time put in it is.
So, though you make comedy look easy, it actually takes work?
Yeah, it's a real composition. It's hard to find a really well-written comedic script. A lot of comedies I'll do for the characters, as opposed to the story, which has either helped or hurt me depending on how you look at it.
You've been very vocal about your love for your co-star, Ray Liotta.
Ray has a contained rage in his eyes that I find really interesting. He's the meanest man you'll ever love. There's something that draws you to people like that, I don't know what it is. Every time Ray would say something horrible to me, I would just fall more in love with him.
The director, Joe Carnahan, was certain you and Ray would have chemistry. Were you certain?
I had no idea. Joe set up a dinner between Ray and I, and walking over there I was like, "Jesus! I have to go to dinner with Henry Hill (the mafia turncoat played by Liotta in 1990's GoodFellas). Let's see what this is like . . ." Chemistry can't be engineered or manufactured. The more you try to force it, the worse it gets. So thankfully Ray and I established a dynamic early on that really stuck.
Does getting serious on film reflect a change in life off-screen?
It was a chance for me to allow in a bit more vulnerability that I normally wouldn't access, at least in front of people. I'd spent a career avoiding it, not only in film, but in my life. I grew up with a sense of humour that was cultivated in self-defence. It's hard to let go of that -- it's not going anywhere, it's just on rest for a while.
In 2004, while talking to Hit about Blade Trinity, you said you were finally putting both feet into the movie business. How has it gone?
Post-Blade, I didn't want to settle any more. I wanted to do stuff I believed in. So yeah, I jumped in. Again, that comes down to allowing yourself to be vulnerable, in as much as when you invest in something you're also liable to be really let down by it. It takes courage to let yourself succeed or fail.
So the fear was "If I do commit 100 per cent to the movie business . . ."
. . . I may let myself down, yeah. I had a bit of "If I jump in whole-heartedly, my heart's gonna get broken".
Can the film world break a heart?
Yeah. There's a reckless nature to Hollywood in as much as absolutely nobody is forced to grow up. You're dealing with a big bully in the schoolyard or a bull in a china shop -- it can be a little terrifying in that regard. But if you keep both feet on the ground and you just wanna do good work, you'll find it, or it'll find you.
You feared "carrying" a film before your comedy Just Friends. Has that passed now too?
This whole year has been those kind of movies -- I did three where I was in every frame. It wears you out. The last movie I did, I fainted; that's never happened to me before. My body quit before I did. It was a calling card to take a break. Carrying movies is . . . not as much fun as it looks.
Did you forget to eat?
You forget to eat, you forget to sleep, you forget to do everything. Your life is taken over. You're having conversations with people and you're literally outside your body watching yourself having the conversation. I'm sure there's a kinship there to a nervous breakdown, but most nervous breakdowns you don't know you're having them until you're done.
Did you have a bit of a breakdown after wrapping Smokin' Aces?
Yeah, it was really hard on my nervous system, only because there was so much violence in it. You need to sage yourself afterwards (laughs). There's no gun culture in my country (Canada), so having to operate this godless instrument of death without feeling like I'm gonna throw up all the time took a little while. When I was done, I needed a little break; I needed some puppy dogs and ice cream.
What did you learn from the FBI guys you trained with for this film?
I learned what true monotony looks like. Those guys sit in front of a computer all day culling information and data on any number of somewhat sleep-inducing subjects. They're not running around like cowboys.
You took one of your indie films, The Nines, to Sundance. Is that festival just a big meat market?
It's the big Hollywood ski-trip! It's kinda silly in that regard. Two days in Sundance feels like two weeks, they're like dog days. After two days you just need to get out of there.
The Nines appears to be continuing your post-Amityville Horror run of stretching yourself.
Yeah. John August, he wrote Go, Big Fish and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Nines is his directing debut. They offered me the role and I said, "Why me? What of my work led you to believe I'm the guy for this role?" John felt it was because I can so easily flip from drama to comedy. But I definitely always have a bit of the "Why me?" thing, and it's always interesting to hear their explanation.
Surely you have to embrace the ego in Hollywood?
Something in my Canadian blood makes that kinda difficult. I know I have an ego -- we all do -- but it's been a challenge to say it out loud, like "I'm great for this. I can do this. I could do this in my sleep". Thankfully I don't have to do that very much.
Is your ambition rearing its head?
Yeah. Ambition I used to find really ugly, but to a certain degree it can be healthy. I definitely have some. There's lots I'd love to do, lots I will do, but I'm not into the kind of ambition where I wanna sashimi my neighbour for a film. That's the unhealthy version. Ambition can be really vicious, you see it in Hollywood quite a bit.
Have you been cut down from behind in Hollywood?
Oh yeah. I've been cut down lots from behind. Most of the time you don't know you've been cut down. It's only later you go "Oh. Ohhhh . . . he did that? Oh God, that's gross".
Smokin' Aces is now showing.