Marvel stars revel in supercharged bromance
Hang out with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on a Saturday morning and it’s clear that this is a bromance.
It began on the set of their massive summer movie “Deadpool & Wolverine,” opening this weekend. Reynolds, 47, recalls filming a scene as Deadpool and not being entirely happy with the result.
Enter Hugh Jackman.
“My first day, I walked off the set, and Hugh said, ‘How do you feel?’ I muttered, ‘Ah, I wish I could go back to the scene we shot earlier because now I sort of see it,’ ” Reynolds said during a press conference interview in lower Manhattan on a hot summer day.
“Five minutes later, everyone was asked to come out of their trailers, lights were flipped back on and costumes were being zipped. Hugh made it so I could shoot. He’s a big a– movie star and he’s Wolverine,” Reynolds says, “I thought, ‘This is how you do it.’”
Jackman, 55, in a green sweater, cream-colored pants and thick glasses says he doesn’t underestimate the importance of midlife male friends. It’s why he has this job.
“I just knew every cell of my body was yelling at me ‘I want to do this movie!’ So much so that I pulled my car over on the side of the Long Island Expressway and I rang Ryan immediately because I knew they were getting close to filming. I asked him if I could be in it and thankfully he said yes,” said Jackman of why he revived the Wolverine character.
In “Deadpool & Wolverine,” Wolverine is recovering from a near-but-not-quite-death experience when he crosses paths with snarky, sarcastic Wade Wilson/Deadpool. They must team up to defeat Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfadyen).
Jackman and Reynolds paused saving the world to offer their good life tips:
Have no expectations
Reynolds, who also co-wrote the film, said he has one major life motto: “I have no expectations.” He added, “I built a career on having as few expectations as possible. It does prevent crippling disappointment.” No expectations led him to have talks with director Shawn Levy six years ago about another “Deadpool” installment. “I started pitching different ideas. Shawn took his white gloves off and slapped my face like he was some kind of harlot,” Reynolds jokes. “Then, Hugh levitated down from the clouds or whatever heaven nest he lives on and blessed us with his presence.”
Revive your dreams
“I watched ‘Deadpool One’ three days after announcing ‘Logan’ would be my last film as Wolverine,” Jackman recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘Ooops.’ ” Jackman had to reconsider and think about playing Logan/Wolverine again. “Ever since I played Wolverine, people have been talking about ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ and their rivalry from the comic books. I could feel it. I could see it. It was ‘Midnight Run.’ It was ‘48 Hours.’ It was ‘The Odd Couple’ and ‘Trains, Planes and Automobiles.’”
Find your edge
“Deadpool always punches up. He doesn’t punch down because that’s mean,” Reynolds says. “But he has an edge without worrying about the outcome. His lesson is: You don’t know the outcome until you do it. You don’t know what’s around the corner until you round that corner. Push on. That’s your edge.”
Bromance is life
“If you can’t laugh with friends, you’re not living,” Reynolds insists. Jackson wholeheartedly agrees. “If you have one great friend in your life, then even when something ugly creeps in, you should just think, ‘Shut up. You got this, because your friend is next to you.’”
Admit to your geek side
Ask Jackman about what variants of Wolverine are his favorite and he admits to his 14-year-old boy side. “In terms of the variants, I was given this thing long ago that I framed. It was a sheet of trading cards with all the different Wolverine variants. There are 60 of them. It’s next to my bed in Australia,” he said. “I look at it all the time. I do love Wolverine the pirate. Wow!”
Be vulnerable
Reynolds has three daughters James, 9, Inez, 7 and Betty, 4 and a new baby (he refrains from sharing the child’s sex or name) with his wife, Blake Lively. “I teach my kids that it’s OK to fall a lot. It’s the absolute best way to know you’re flying,” Reynolds says.Jackman and ex Deborra-Lee Furness share two kids, Oscar 23 and Ava, 19. “For many years, as a parent, the job was to appear strong and dependable and never worried,” he said. “Now, I share my vulnerabilities more with my kids and I see their relief when I do.”
Keep learning
“I always loved school and that never ends in life,” Jackman says. “It’s good to be a chronic learner. Inquiry comes first in life.”
Push the limits
Despite an R rating, Reynolds says he watched the film with his son. “My 9-year-old watched the movie with me and my mom who is in her late 70s. It was one of the best moments,” he says. “Both were laughing their guts out and feeling the emotions where I most desperately wanted them to feel it. When I saw R-rated movies as a kid, they left a huge impression on me because I didn’t feel like people were pulling punches.”
Use your fears
“I’ve always said yes to the thing that scares me. The fear of letting myself down — of saying no to something that I was afraid of and then sitting in a room later going, ‘I wish I had the guts to do that’ — well, that galvanizes me more than anything,” Jackman says.
Move to your own beat
Reynolds says he dances a bit in the new film, and that made him shed any inhibitions. “It was choreographed, and if it looks like I don’t have arthritis, then that’s good.” Reynolds says, “You’ll never know if you’re good at something until you do it.”
And don’t fret
“Most of the things that we’re so nervous about prove to be nonsense in the end,” Jackman says. Reynolds adds, “That’s the thing about life. It’s not all so serious.”