Ryan Reynolds Reveals The Major Attitude Shift In His 30s That Helped Him Get Deadpool Made

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool

Ryan Reynolds has built himself quite the empire and pretty much seems to have the picture perfect life: a strong Hollywood career, an enviable home life alongside Blake Lively and their three children, and a number of fun business ventures. The Deadpool star has come a long way since his Waiting years, and his major success has now been revealed to be thanks to an attitude shift that occurred in his mid 30s. And this shift actually helped launch the Deadpool movies.

Ryan Reynolds recently appeared on an episode of the SmartLess podcast with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. It was during this interview that Reynolds spoke about accepting the not-so-good aspects of his body of work and how they've helped him become who he is today. Here is what he said, exactly:

You start to want to create your own thing. Eventually I got to a place, I would say it wasn’t until my mid-thirties, to learn you can’t be great at something until you’re willing to be bad at it. It just freed me in a way I don’t think I’d ever experienced before. It really genuinely freed me up and amazing things started happening. I mean, a movie I’d been trying to get made for 10 years, Deadpool finally gets made. That changes my life. I sort of build on that. I can start a marketing company and continue to tell stories. I think it’s important.

Ryan Reynolds has been in the film industry for quite some time now, and it's no secret that he's had some awesomely cringeworthy roles in the past, with one of them actually being Deadpool himself. Although in fairness, that definitely not the way he wanted to play him.

While Ryan Reynolds is certainly talking about more than just his iconic portrayal of Deadpool here, it is certainly the perfect example. Reynolds was basically made to play Deadpool, the comics even say Wade Wilson looked like “Ryan Reynolds crossed with a shar-pei”. Fully aware of that, Reynolds took on the knowingly bad role of Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine so that no one else could play him. And ultimately, his newly found, life-changing attitude would allow him to play Deadpool the way he wanted seven years later.

The timeline totally checks out, too. Ryan Reynolds is in his mid-forties now, and it would appear that he would begin to secure pretty much everything he holds dear to himself around ten years ago, when he was in his mid 30s. Needless to say, the past decade has been very good to the fan-favorite actor though, just as he does with his acting career, he doesn't mind being candid about the personal issues he's faced in his life.

Ryan Reynolds has been outspoken about his struggles with anxiety and mental health, which is something that so many of us experience. It can't be said for sure, but it’s possible that as he lightened up on how hard he was on himself for the “bad” roles he played, his mental health as well as his life in general started to improve. Of course, mental health is something that will always be an ongoing struggle and something people can always work to maintain.

It would seem that being open about his mental health has helped Ryan Reynolds to be more introspective in general, as evidenced by his discussion on the attitude shift he initiated around 10 years ago. It’s awesome to see someone positively battling their demons and also acting as a role model for the many people who also have those internal struggles.

What worked for the actor may not work for everyone, because our obstacles are different. Yet you'll never know what you can accomplish if you don't try something. After all, thanks to Reynolds' drive, we got an awesome Deadpool franchise that we're still enjoying. And if X-Men Origins: Wolverine’s Deadpool can become the Deadpool we have now, pretty much anything is possible.

Carlie Hoke
Content Writer

Constantly thinking about books, coffee, and the existential dread I feel from Bo Burnham’s Inside.  While writing I’m also raising a chaotic toddler, who may or may not have picked up personality traits from watching one too many episodes of Trailer Park Boys.