Celebs Who Can't Stand Ryan Reynolds
Renowned for his smart-ass persona, ripped physique, and uncanny ability to drop a one-liner at the drop of a hat, Ryan Reynolds might never have been considered for an Academy Award. But as the star of "The Proposal," "Pokemon: Detective Pikachu," and the "Deadpool" franchise, he's been responsible for some of the most-loved populist films of the 21st century.
And the way he and Rob McElhenney have helped to transform the fortunes of a lowly Welsh soccer club while simultaneously benefiting the local community has further established the Canadian as one of Hollywood's nicest guys, too.
But not everyone finds the 2016 Teen Choice Awards Hissy Fit winner so amiable. Indeed, Reynolds also appears to have made his fair share of enemies over his 30-year career. From co-stars and auteurs to reality TV stars and Bollywood favorites, here's a look at 14 celebs who have made their dislike of the actor well known.
Ryan Reynolds believes Wesley Snipes despised him
It's fair to say that Wesley Snipes didn't exactly make "Blade: Trinity" a joyous place to work. According to Patton Oswalt, the action star would only communicate through the method of post-it notes, refused to film anything other than close-ups, and even once attempted to strangle director David S. Goyer. And Ryan Reynolds also appeared to incur the wrath of the hot-headed star, too.
In a 2004 interview with IGN, Reynolds revealed that several of the film's ad-libs were inspired by his real-life encounters with the leading man: "There's a moment in the movie where I look up at Jessica [Biel] and I swear to God, I didn't even know the cameras were rolling anymore and I say, 'He hates me, doesn't he?' And she's like, 'Yeah.' I'm just saying this about my relationship as Ryan Reynolds to this guy, and it works."
Reynolds, who also tried to get the leading man to break character without much luck, also recalled the moment when Snipes was at his most menacing: "There's another one where I do a dime store psychoanalysis of him where I say, 'You ever thought about sitting down and talking with someone, getting in touch with your inner child, and also you might want to try blinking once in a while.' He just looks at me like he's gonna turn me into a** pulp."
Sammi Giancola and Deena Cortese said Reynolds was rude when they met
Don't expect Ryan Reynolds to make a guest appearance on "Jersey Shore" anytime soon. It doesn't appear as though the "Deadpool" star is a fan of the reality TV show, well certainly not two of its cast members anyway. And after a chance meeting with them, you'd expect the feeling to be mutual.
When asked on "Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen" about the rudest celebrity they'd ever encountered, Deena Cortese and Sammi Giancola both agreed on the same person, although they were initially reluctant to name names. But after some pressing by host Andy Cohen, the tabloid regulars revealed that it was a certain Welsh soccer-club co-owner.
"He was not great to us," Cortese explained (via Us Weekly). "I love Ryan Reynolds and I love Blake Lively and he didn't want to be by us." Despite the Hollywood actor's apparent attitude toward them, the surprisingly forgiving Giancola claimed that she's still an admirer, adding, "Maybe he had a bad day."
Gerard Butler pointed out he doesn't watch Ryan Reynolds movies
There doesn't appear to be much love lost between two of the modern era's most popular action heroes, Gerard Butler and Ryan Reynolds. However, we're not exactly sure where their apparent beef stems from.
Their 'rivalry' came to light in 2021 when Butler was asked by Unilad about the similarities between his 2009 film "Gamer" and Reynolds' more recent "Free Guy." The Scotsman claimed that he'd never heard of the latter, and when told by co-star Alexis Louder about its leading man, he answered (via the Independent), "Oh s*** is it? I don't watch Ryan Reynolds movies."
Luckily, the man Butler slighted took it in good humor, taking to Instagram where he captioned a screenshot of a People article about the comments, "Can you believe Gerard Butler doesn't know what 'Free Guy' is?" Proving what an all-around good guy he is, Reynolds then asked followers if they could believe the state of democracy, adding links to his and partner Blake Lively's fundraising activities for ACLU and the Legal Defense Fund, respectively. He clarified, "Order of these questions optimized for the Internet, NOT importance."
Billy Sharp didn't like Ryan Reynolds' confidence
A few years ago, a beef between Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds and a striker from a second-tier English soccer club would have seemed unthinkable. But since the former bought Wrexham AFC with fellow celebrity Rob McElhenney, such unlikely feuds are now par for the course.
In 2023, Reynolds and the rest of the Welsh club incurred the wrath of Billy Sharp, the Sheffield United forward who scored twice to dump them out of the FA Cup fourth round. During a post-match interview, the player called out his team's opponents for their apparent arrogance before the game. He was also alleged to have got involved in a scuffle with both the Wrexham players and their traveling fans.
Reynolds didn't seem particularly perturbed by Sharp's comments, remarking in the "Welcome to Wrexham" documentary (via Mirror), "It was so, so wonderful to see that we got under that guy's skin the way he did." McElhenney no doubt got under the sportsman's skin further when he added, "We were living rent free in that m***********'s brain."
Kangana Ranaut accuses Ryan Reynolds of stealing India's film screens
In 2021, Ryan Reynolds tried to encourage Indian cinemagoers to go and see "Free Guy" with a promotional clip in which he acknowledged that its selling points "a crazy villain, some insane action, and, of course, dancing" may have been a little familiar: "If you're wondering whether Hollywood is just mimicking Bollywood ... Well, the answer is yes. We have no shame, no shame at all."
While most of its intended target audience took Reynolds' wisecracking in the spirit it was intended, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut saw it as an affront to her craft. As reported by The Indian Express, the "Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi" star uploaded a screenshot of an article about the Canadian's comments to Instagram with the caption that Tinseltown was also "trying to steal our screens."
This isn't the first time that Ranaut has spoken about such issues. She told PTI several years previously (via Hindustan Times), "We need to discourage American and English movies as they are taking over our screens. We need to behave like one nation. We need to stop dividing ourselves like North India or South India. We need to enjoy our own films first, be it Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu or Punjabi."
Shania Twain isn't impressed much by Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds certainly got more than he bargained for when he rocked up to the People's Choice Awards in 2022. The "Mississippi Grind" star attended the annual ceremony to receive the Icon Award. But he also got a shout-out, and a slightly derogatory one at that, from one of the musical performers.
Yes, giving Brad Pitt a bit of respite, Shania Twain decided to alter the most iconic line in her biggest hit to, "Okay, so you're Ryan Reynolds? That don't impress me much." It's not clear what the actor did to get in the country singer's bad books. But the latter was certainly unapologetic about her very public shade-throwing, tweeting Reynolds himself with the words, "Sorry not sorry."
As you'd expect, the Hollywood star took the insult on good terms. Reynolds visibly burst into laughter following Twain's unexpected lyric change at the event itself, and he later took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to further express his approval, writing, "I can't think of a more iconic, smart, and beautiful person to not impress all that much."
Did Matthew Perry hold a grudge against Ryan Reynolds?
According to reports that emerged in 2022, Keanu Reeves wasn't the only Hollywood star that the late Matthew Perry appeared to hold an unlikely grudge against. The sitcom favorite, who famously seemed to wish death on "The Matrix" star in his memoir "Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing," also allegedly believed that Ryan Reynolds owes him his entire career.
An anonymous source told RadarOnline that the vendetta stemmed from Reynolds' time in "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place." Perry reportedly argued that the Canadian "stole his character and delivery" in the '90s sitcom, with the insider adding, "That series set the template for Ryan's whole voice as a performer and eventually as a writer and producer."
Perry, who shot to global fame as Chandler Bing in the phenomenally successful comedy "Friends," was also apparently annoyed that Reynolds never gave credit where it was due. The source said, "It bugs Matthew so much that Ryan never even gave him a single mention. That's all it would have taken."
Quentin Tarantino doesn't believe certain Ryan Reynolds movies are culturally relevant
From John Travolta and Daryl Hannah to Don Johnson and Kurt Russell, Quentin Tarantino is renowned for casting names you wouldn't necessarily expect to appear in a Quentin Tarantino film. But following the auteur's comments at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, it seems unlikely that Ryan Reynolds will ever be joining this exclusive list.
Tarantino was speaking to Deadline about the recent trend of releasing films straight to streaming rather than theatrically when he singled out the star of "The Adam Project" and "Red Notice": "I'm not picking on anybody, but apparently for Netflix, Ryan Reynolds has made $50 million on this movie and $50 million on that movie and $50 million on the next movie for them. I don't know what any of those movies are. I've never seen them. Have you?"
The "Pulp Fiction" director, who's claimed that he will be quitting the industry after his forthcoming 10th film, then got a little existential: "I haven't ever talked to Ryan Reynolds' agent, but his agent is like, 'Well, it cost $50 million.' Well, good for him that he's making so much money. But those movies don't exist in the zeitgeist. It's almost like they don't even exist."
T.J. Miller claimed Ryan Reynolds was 'horrifically mean' to him
T.J. Miller certainly put the cat among the pigeons in 2022 when he claimed he'd been on the receiving end of Ryan Reynolds' cruel side while filming "Deadpool." The troubled comedian was guesting on "The Adam Carolla Show" when he recalled one particular on-set moment where his co-star requested another take.
"And then, as the character, he was, like, horrifically mean to me," Miller claimed. "But to me. As if I'm Weasel. He was like, 'You know what's great about you, Weasel? You're not the star, but you do just enough exposition that it's funny and then we can leave and get back to the real movie.' ... Everybody was looking at each other like, 'What the f*** is he doing?' So that was not a great experience for me." The "Silicon Valley" star also stated that he wouldn't take a role on "Deadpool 3" even if his salary was doubled.
Just 24 hours after the episode of the podcast dropped, Reynolds emailed Miller to explain that it was all a misunderstanding. The latter went on to tell Sirius XM's Jim Norton & Sam Roberts, "It was very cool for him to say, 'Hey, you know, I just heard on the show that you were upset about this.' And I kind of said, 'You know, I'm not,' and then we sort of hashed it out quickly."
Hugh Jackman claimed Ryan Reynolds is riding on his coattails
In 2018, Hugh Jackman dropped an MTV News video on X in which he claimed that his "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" co-star essentially owes his entire career to him. "Ryan Reynolds may seem like an honest, hard-working movie star, husband, and father," the Australian began. "But don't let the facts get in the way of the truth."
Jackman went on to claim that Reynolds had been riding on his coattails ever since he "hand-selected" the Canadian to appear in the 2009 superhero movie, adding, "He was only named People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2010, the year after he met Hugh. Coincidence? Please." He then implored viewers to watch the PG-13 edited version of "Deadpool" to prevent Reynolds from making another "Green Lantern" or "Van Wilder" film.
Of course, this wasn't Jackman delivering a real smackdown. The muscle man has been involved in an ongoing faux-beef with Reynolds since 2015. The pair, who are actually firm friends, have regularly given unflattering impressions of each other, trolled each other over their respective film careers, and played numerous pranks all in the name of entertainment.
Have Ryan Reynolds and Jake Gyllenhaal fallen out?
In 2019, close pals Jake Gyllenhaal and Ryan Reynolds started a fake online feud when they celebrated Best Friends Day by each posing with mutual acquaintance Hugh Jackman instead. But could this playful beef have turned into a very real one?
Well, according to OK! magazine, within two years, the "Life" co-stars had stopped speaking to each other. And their competitive spirits were apparently to blame. An insider said, "Things started cooling down once they realized they were competing for the same roles. Ryan and Jake realize that in Hollywood, there are only so many seats at the table."
Gyllenhaal had previously spoken about how he and Reynolds never saw each other as rivals, telling "The One Show" (via Vanity Fair), "It's rare in our industry to meet someone, a contemporary and there's no competition. There are just some friends you meet at a certain time in your life." But another anonymous source told RadarOnline that the Academy Award nominee had since distanced himself from his fellow A-lister: "Ryan was something of a mentor to Jake back then. Friends think it was Jake who stepped away to be his own man."
Soccer chairman Andy Holt labels Ryan Reynolds' business skills as stupid
With the FX documentary series "Welcome to Wrexham" giving its titular soccer club a global platform, it was always inevitable that interest in their games would intensify. And fellow League Two team Accrington Stanley appeared to take advantage of that fact when they charged attendees an extra £5 (roughly $7) for their 2023 home encounter against the Welshmen.
Living up to their good guy reputation, the club, famously owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, then announced that they'd be reducing ticket prices by the same amount for the return game several months later. To say this movie didn't go down well with Accrington's chairman is an understatement.
After his club beat Wrexham 2-0, Andy Holt took to X to give "The Hitman's Bodyguard" star a piece of his mind. "I think [Reynolds] should cut prices by a tenner. Safe journey home folks. Get that on Netflix, Ryan lad." Holt had previously responded to the Red Dragons' gesture, tweeting, "When costs are already high, the last thing football needs is stupid mistimed statements ... It's surprising how stupid given a former CEO of EFL is employed by you. Let's have a great day for all fans safely, whatever the outcome on the pitch."
Chris Columbus believes Ryan Reynolds is desecrating the art of cinema
In 2018, news emerged that Ryan Reynolds was to star and produce in "Stoned Alone," which, as its title suggests, was a marijuana-infused reboot of the festive classic "Home Alone." The project was set to center around a 20-something stoner who, after missing the plane for his skiing vacation, finds himself and his home under attack from some opportunistic thieves.
Unsurprisingly, the general reaction to the concept was that Reynolds was essentially ruining the childhoods of every kid who grew up with the original. And the director wasn't exactly overjoyed by the prospect, either. In fact, Chris Columbus described the proposed movie as "an insult to the art of cinema."
In an interview with the Independent, the filmmaker argued, "If you're making a comedy, a musical, no matter what film I'm making, my goal is to treat it with the same respect as if I was making 'The Godfather.' 'Home Alone' is not 'The Godfather,' but you have to treat it with that kind of respect and this idea of remaking things that already exist and are working well? Watch the original! Forget about it. It's just never going to be as good." Luckily, for Columbus and for fans of Macaulay Culkin's adventures, "Stoned Alone" appears to have gotten stuck in development hell.
Tim Miller clashed with Ryan Reynolds over creative control
T.J. Miller wasn't the only person to clash with Ryan Reynolds while filming the first chapter of the "Deadpool" franchise. In fact, he wasn't the only Miller, either. Indeed, the director of the 2016 blockbuster, Tim Miller, decided against helming the sequel following various creative differences with its leading man.
According to reports, Reynolds wanted "Deadpool 2" to continue in the gritty, R-rated vein of its predecessor, while Miller believed the movie should follow in the flashier footsteps of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This appeared to be confirmed when during a chat on KCRW, the filmmaker revealed, "It became clear that Ryan wanted to be in control of the franchise. You can work that way as a director, quite successfully, but I can't."
However, in another interview, Miller refuted the claims that he wanted to take the "Deadpool" series in a different direction, telling "CC Garage," "I just want to say one thing to the geek audience out there because it's important to me what the geeks and nerds of the world think because they are my brothers and sisters: I didn't want to make some stylized movie that was three times the budget," he explained. "I wanted to make the same kind of movie that we made before because I think that's the right movie to make for the character. So don't believe what you read on the Internet. I wanted to do the same thing."