Ryan Reynolds stars in a sci-fi thriller for his latest flick “Self/Less” alongside Ben Kingsley in a story about a dying billionaire who has a secret organization transfer his mind into the body of another…and of course, there’s a catch. FOX411 spoke with Reynolds about the idea of living forever which he “can’t imagine ever wanting to do.” Plus we chat about that famous Twitter feed of his filled with witty one-liners, and “Deadpool” fans, this all started because of you!
FOX411: With sci-fi, you get the action and thriller but then also leads to bigger picture discussion, is that the fun of sci-fi for you?
Reynolds: Yeah there’s something intriguing about it. The movie starts off in a sci-fi world and then quickly evolves into this action-thriller aspect so you get kind of the best of both of those worlds which I liked.
FOX411: Did the movie get you thinking of whether you’d want to live forever?
Reynolds: I think, you don’t need this movie to think about that. I think everybody has that at least one or two moments in their lives where they say ‘what would it be like if I just had sort of an endless hall pass to wander this planet until the end?’ So yeah I thought a little bit about that, but I can’t imagine ever wanting to do that. I can’t imagine the kind of arrogance it would take to say, ‘you know what, I’m going to use power, money, and influence to buy my way into another life’ that seems a little dark. I think make the most of this one and be happy when you finally close your eyes to it.
FOX411: You’ve managed to check so many genres off the list, even doing mash-ups like horror-comedy, is this the ideal for an actor?
Reynolds: I think it’s the ideal but what’s right for me might not be right for another actor. So I do. For me I’ve been really lucky that I’ve got to, I’ve had the opportunity to work in so many genres with so many people I admire and love. That’s a dream come true. If I stopped right now and never got to work again, I would look back and just be thrilled.
FOX411: Interesting as we talk about getting to work with people, you didn’t quite get to work with Sir Ben on this one?
Reynolds: Oh yeah, no, we have one scene in the movie together. It’s actually on the poster…but we weren’t exactly swapping crisp high-fives in that scene. No, I got to hang out with him though, he’s a fascinating guy. It’s been a nice year of working with some of the great British actors, Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley, I ain’t complaining..Sirs and Dames, it’s now in my contract, I will only work with knighted or royalty.
FOX411: Have you embraced your Twitter superstar status?
Reynolds: I don’t know. I mean, I sort of started that as… in response to “Deadpool” being greenlit and it was greenlit because of those people. Because of people on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook. They made their voices so loud and so well heard that I just wanted to be in contact with that. So that was kind of why I started that. And most of the time I just find Twitter to be amusing because you’re given 140 characters what else are you going to do with, you know, you’re not going to write some treaties on the Greek debt crisis, you’re going to basically just make some jokes. So that’s how it is for me, for other people it might be totally different, but that’s just sort of my bag on it.
FOX411: Obviously you’ve learned the reach and the power of social media. Has it been interesting to see that?
Reynolds: Yeah I find it interesting like how the reaction to some things is huge and then other things it’s very minimal but you know, I could say something just absolutely horrible and it’s just, no one cares, and then you could say something just off the top of your head that’s quick and it goes everywhere. But I do find that the Internet can be a dangerous place too in the sense that people, particularly on social media, can shame or hurt other people so I never ever… I make sure that everything I write on that is never targeted or mean to anybody or anything like that. It’s sort of the one kind of policy if I’m going to have, is just that it’s just keep it light and keep it fun.
Watch the video above for more of our FOX411 Face2Face with Ryan Reynolds. “Self/Less” is in theaters July 10th.
Fox News Entertainment Producer Ashley Dvorkin covers celebrity news, red carpets, TV, music, and movies. Dvorkin, winner of the 2011 CMA Media Achievement Award, is also host of “Fox 411 Country,” “Star Traveler,” “Fox 411 Big Screen,” and “Fox on Reddit.”
