Something old, something new
Reynolds filming Deadpool 2 as The Hitman’s Bodyguard opens
BOB THOMPSON
To promote The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Ryan Reynolds is taking a break from filming the Deadpool sequel in his hometown of Vancouver.
Still, the “merc with the mouth” association follows him wherever he goes and whatever he does, but he continues to be OK with that.
“The thing I’ll say is that Deadpool, the entity and the franchise, has swallowed my life whole,” Reynolds says. “But I’ve always been so proud of every aspect of it and I’m so passionate about it, and it’s the privilege of a lifetime.”
(A motorcycle stuntwoman died this week on the Deadpool 2 set in Vancouver. It happened after Reynolds gave this interview.)
The Hitman’s Bodyguard, starring Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, has a few things in common with Deadpool. The action is unrelenting and the comedy transitions from selfaware lampooning to slapstick at the drop of a one-liner.
“The parody part I think is important because it does poke fun at some of the tropes of buddy-action movies,” Reynolds says of The Hitman’s Bodyguard.
“It leans in to some of the tropes in a heavy way, and other times we step away from it and deconstruct it and kind of make fun of it. Then other times, it’s just a straight-up buddy, action comedy.”
In the movie, Reynolds plays a special protection agent desperate to revive his failing career. That’s why he accepts a dangerous assignment to deliver the world’s most notorious assassin (Jackson) to the International Court of Justice so he can testify against an Eastern European dictator (Gary Oldman).
Along the way, the dictator’s henchmen attempt to eliminate them. To that end, there are firefights, mixed martial arts combat sequences, highspeed car chases, boat escapades and lots of snappy patter between the odd couple.
The roles seem tailor-made for the actors but they weren’t necessarily written specifically for them.
“I can’t speak for him, but I wouldn’t do this without him,” Reynolds says of Jackson. “So that was my contingency with the studio. I was like, ‘If you can get Sam to do it, I’ll do it.’ ”
It turns out Jackson felt the same way, although they had never worked together before. They did know each other from voicing characters in the 2013 animated movie Turbo and from fundraisers. They first met when they shared a physical therapist just before Reynolds started filming Blade: Trinity in 2004.
Both anticipated a positive collaborative outcome but their proficient teamworksurprisedeventhemonthe movie’s sets in London, Amsterdam and the base of operations in Sofia, Bulgaria.
“There’s nothing worse than working with a guy who starts improvising and just makes it all about him, because you sort of lose the whole plot to everything.” he says. “No, (Jackson) is the most professional guy you’ll ever work with.”
Together, the actors had “a pretty good idea when to hit the gas and when to pump the brakes a bit.”
Meanwhile, the question is, does Reynolds use bodyguards?
“I refuse to work with a bodyguard unless he can carry me through a concert in sort of a fetal position,” jokes the 6-foot-2 actor. “So, sure you have them for ComicCon or something, but I wouldn’t go to Chipotle with security.”
Certainly, the Comic-Con crowd is anticipating Deadpool 2, which is set to open next June.
The success story began, against all odds, when Deadpool test footage was released online, which eventually led to the production getting a begrudging green light from the studio. In 2016, Deadpool received great reviews and a whopping worldwide box office of US$783.1 million.
The second film about the caustic avenger has a bigger budget, so it must make the filmmaking process easier.
“Well, yes and no,” Reynolds says. “We have a little bit more money to spend just because we have more characters to service. We’re introducing Cable (played by Josh Brolin), and Domino (Zazie Beetz), and everything that they do, so there’s a lot to focus on there.”
And what about expectations for the sequel?
“Our expectations were so minimal for the first one, and they’re not much different for the second one,” he says. “The studio may think, ‘Oh, we have to make the same amount of money.’ For us, we’re just doing what we do: We’re in the sandbox playing every day and having a ball.”