Ryan Reynolds Making A Move To Win An Oscar
Ryan Reynolds looks to be making a play for an Academy Award.
This article is more than 2 years old
Ryan Reynolds has quite the resume as a quick-witted, devil-may-care action star, carefully crafting an on-screen look and tone that plays extremely well in the big-budget, popcorn movie realm. But with all of his success and watch-ability on the big screen, Reynolds hasn’t been put in that group of actors we typically think of when it comes to winning the biggest industry awards out there. That’s because his roles trend (heavily) towards action, whizz-bang flicks, and less about the depth of a given character. That’s not a pejorative. Reynolds is great at what he does. It’s just there’s a reason we don’t think about the dude in awards season. But Ryan Reynolds might be looking to revamp that thought. Rumors have it that Reynolds is interested in getting in the awards discussion with upcoming roles.
Ryan Reynolds eyeing an awards season run comes specifically from the actor potentially getting to work with David Fincher in an upcoming movie. The details on the actual movie, or whether the pair are in anything more than “circling” mode are light right now. But unlike Reynolds, Fincher does conjure up feelings of award-winners with his movies. The director and his films have been nominated thirty times at the Academy Awards. Among those, five times an actor or actress in his films have been nominated for their individual performances. Frankly, this number is way too low and he’s had some performances stand out as noticeable omissions.
Again, these rumors would be a new direction for Ryan Reynolds whose recent roles have been most assuredly not ones that would ever earn him an Oscar nod. For starters, there’s his ongoing role as Deadpool in the Marvel Universe. He’s breathed new and irreverent life into the character, a perfect casting decision that was one of the primary reasons the franchise has earned more than $1.5 billion at the box office through its first two films. But no one would confuse that with your typical awards season fare even if Reynolds is excellent in the role.
And Ryan Reynolds’ other movies, past and upcoming, don’t have the awards vibe either. Netflix’s 6 Underground had plenty of explosions and a high body count, but Michael Bay flicks are like the opposite of what the Academy is looking for and it tanked with critics at 36% on the Tomatometer. And his upcoming role in Free Guy as an oblivious every man living inside a video game looks hilarious and innovative but could lack a certain gravitas.
There’s some chance, his upcoming film The Adam Project which is written by Jonathan Tropper (This is Where I Leave You) carries a different tone than what we’ve seen in other Ryan Reynolds movies. It’s touted as a time travel film, but after that not a ton is known about its overall story. But Tropper’s other work suggests some more depth than other Reynolds movies.
Again, Ryan Reynolds making an awards run with his upcoming deal with Netflix doesn’t feel like all that much of a stretch. Just because we haven’t seen the actor in these kinds of roles doesn’t mean he lacks the chops. The dude is unbelievably talented and making a slight shift into the more dramatic (or maybe darker if David Fincher were involved) could mark a slight pivot for the actor. But it’s easy to see how it could work for him.
