Dear Ryan Reynolds, my, what a big sword you have
By May Seah, TODAY | Posted: 24 April 2009 1114 hrs

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Say what you will about awards and accolades. The true mark of an actor’s dedication is when he nearly makes a eunuch of himself when training to do his own stunts.

Ryan Reynolds has come a long way since Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Place, including being voted one of People magazine’s Sexiest Men Alive and scoring Scarlett Johansson for his wife.

And in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he fulfils his destiny long foretold: To be the screen incarnation of Deadpool.

“I’ve wanted to play Deadpool most of my adult life,” the 33-year-old said. He is a longtime fan of Marvel’s Deadpool comics — and was even mentioned in one issue. “It’s a beloved character with comic fans, so it’s not a responsibility I take lightly.”

That just might be the understatement of the year. To play Team X member Wade Wilson, who later becomes known as Deadpool after his Weapon X treatment disfigures him, Reynolds risked life, limb — and member — to become a sword-wielding dynamo.

“Most people look at that and think it’s CGI, what he was doing with those swords, and it absolutely wasn’t,” said Wolverine star Hugh Jackman at a press conference in Sydney. “He had some really near misses, the poor guy, on his old fella, let me tell you. Scarlett Johansson’s probably lucky that he got out of that one alive.

“He worked like a dog. Christmas day, New Year’s – he was there with the stunt boys working. And I’m really proud of what he did.” That’s right — Ryan Reynolds is the guy who nearly went from being Deadpool to Deadtool.

Can you describe Wade Wilson?
What I like about Wade Wilson is that we’re not sure if he’s good or bad. He is an elite mercenary who is hired by William Stryker (Danny Huston) to be part of a group carrying out very specific secret missions for the government.

He’s an incredibly proficient swordsman and his weapon of choice is the Katana sword. He uses two of them at once. He is also a motor mouth, which is why they call him the “Merc with the Mouth”.

What was it like to physically transform into Deadpool?
Getting the make-up for Deadpool was interesting. I had a lot of work because his whole face is scarred: His head, neck, body and everything.

But I love wearing prosthetics, spending four or five hours in make-up with these amazing geniuses working on you. I walked around as Deadpool and people who knew me intimately had no idea that it was me under the make-up.

My nephew came to the set one day and I think he’s still crying from the experience! I think I scarred him for life. He’s six years old and he came to see his Uncle Ryan at work, and behold, I looked like a burn victim that day.

Did the role require you to be in peak physical shape?
Yes, it entailed months and months of work, packing on as much muscle as I possibly could.

My diet involved a lot of protein, a lot of meat. It was pretty regimented and just meant that I had to eat meals every two hours. My programme was actually very similar to Hugh’s — basically a conveyor belt of live chickens. (Laughs)

How dark and exciting is the film?
The film is fairly dark. I think it’s brutal and honest and very cool and the action is ugly and magnificent, which I like. It is all those things wrapped into one. And I think that’s what you get when you have Gavin Hood directing because he is a guy who is known for his great dramatic films and attention to detail in the emotional sense.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine opens in cinemas on April 29.
- TODAY/yb