Ryan Reynolds Defends Comedy Acting for Awards Contention After Online Criticism: ‘It’s Meant to Look and Feel Effortless’

Ryan Reynolds fired back on some social media critics who appeared to be belittling comedy acting.

Reynolds took to his X account Friday morning to call out a user for besmirching comedy acting compared to dramatic acting. The user made note that Reynolds was scheduled to talk opposite Andrew Garfield in Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series. Garfield appeared in the A24 drama “We Live in Time” opposite Florence Pugh – a story about a couple whose life is upended by a cancer diagnosis – while Reynolds reprised his role as Marvel hero Deadpool in “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

“Andrew Garfield talking about playing a husband and father whose wife decides to forgo cancer treatment and Ryan Reynolds talking about playing Deadpool,” the user wrote in a since-deleted post.

Reynolds took umbrage with this comparison between the two. The actor replied directly to the poster with a long defense of comedy acting and the difficulty often unpraised.

“Correct. Andrew’s a genius. He and Florence are magic together in, WE LIVE IN TIME. They’re heartbreaking and charming and spend the entire film in a high-wire act of humanity and constraint,” Reynolds wrote. “And yes I am Deadpool BUT I will take a second and speak up in defense of comedy. Dramatic work is difficult. And we’re also meant to SEE it’s difficult which is one of the reasons it feels visceral and effective. Comedy is also very difficult. But has an added dimension in that it’s meant to look and feel effortless. You intentionally hide the stitching and unstitching. I think both disciplines are beautiful. And both work beautifully together. Comedy and drama subsist on tension. Both thrive when subverting expectation. Both thrive backstopped by real emotion. And both are deeply subjective. Your favorite comedy might be Anchorman. Mine might be Lars Von Trier’s, Melancholia.”

Reynolds’ film – which co-stars Hugh Jackman as fan-favorite Wolverine – definitely resonated with audiences. It became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all-time – on top of being the second-highest grossing movie of the year – with $1.338 billion at the worldwide box office. That alone proved there was plenty of gas left in the MCU’s tank.

Talking with TheWrap magazine, Jackman said Reynolds had a singular mantra while shooting the film that rang throughout shooting.

“Look, Ryan always had a mantra that I heard him say to you (director Shawn Levy) 100 times and to me and to everyone in the crew,” Jackman said. ““If the expectation is here, we have to deliver above. If you think we’ve got to work 100%, it’s not enough, because the expectation is so high. We were always working hard and whatever bar was there, this, for me, was above.”

The post Ryan Reynolds Defends Comedy Acting for Awards Contention After Online Criticism: ‘It’s Meant to Look and Feel Effortless’ appeared first on TheWrap.