Ryan Reynolds has his actress wife Blake Lively to thank for keeping him sane while working on Deadpool, because fan expectations had him battling severe anxiety.
The movie star has struggled with the condition since he was a child, but his nerves were at an all-time high as he worked around the clock to perfect the superhero film ahead of its release last year (16), because he didn’t want to disappoint comic book devotees.
“I never, ever slept,” he told Variety magazine. “Or I was sleeping at a perfect right angle – just sitting straight, constantly working at the same time.”
“By the time we were in post (production), we’d been to Comic-Con, and people went crazy for it,” he continued. “The expectations (of starring in Deadpool) were eating me alive. Blake helped me through that. I’m lucky to have her around just to keep me sane.”
In addition to serving as the film’s star, producer, and script editor, Ryan had to hit the gym for two hours a day to get into tip-top shape to portray the ripped titular character.
“We wanted him to be really lithe, kind of like a middle-distance runner,” he shared.
However, script co-writer Paul Wernick reveals working out so much took its toll on the leading man: “He would reach for a cereal box and pull a muscle,” he explained. “That’s how ripped he was.”
Luckily, Ryan’s dedication to the project paid off – Deadpool grossed $783.1 million (£635.7 million) at the global box office from a $58 million (£47 million) budget, and the actor is now working on a sequel, which is set for release in 2018.
The plot for the follow-up has yet to be made public, but Ryan is not ruling out making Deadpool the first official pansexual character in the Marvel universe by introducing a male love interest for the cancer-stricken former military officer, also known as Wade Wilson.
Ryan played up Deadpool’s feminine side in the 2016 movie, and while his character enjoyed an onscreen romance with Morena Baccarin‘s Vanessa Carlysle, aka Copycat, the actor is interested in switching things up.
“What love is to Deadpool may not be what love is to Batman or someone else,” he mused. “I think that could be played up more. He’s an outsider in every way, shape, and form.”
Deadpool 2 will be directed by David Leitch following the departure of original filmmaker Tim Miller, who stepped away from the project in October (16) due to creative differences with Reynolds.
