Why ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Gave Ryan Reynolds a ‘Low-Grade Panic Attack’ (Exclusive)

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman sat down with “Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi in NYC to talk “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

Hugh recalled when he had the realization that he needed to be part of the movie, “I was driving… literally the question came into my head. ‘If you could do anything, what would you do?’ And that’s what came to me. Yeah. It’d been brewing there for a while, the moment I saw ‘Deadpool’ 1, which is one of my favorite movies, all I could see was those two characters together, I could just feel it, I could see it and it was something completely different than what we’ve done, what I’ve done as Wolverine.”

Jackman was reluctant because in the past he’d said, “I’m not doing it,” and thought about sticking to that, thinking, “So now I’m not going to do it.”

The Wolverine actor, however, had a change of heart. “I was like, ‘Yeah, screw it. I really want to do it.’ Every cell in my body said, ‘I want that matchup. I want those two characters. I want to be on set with my best mates and I want to do it.’ And I pulled over the side of the road and rang [Ryan]. And he said yes.”

Ryan recalled, “It was a bit like winning a lottery… No joke, that was the day that Shawn [Levy] and I had another pitch… When Hugh showed up with this and just immediately everybody got it, they locked in. We figured out the how and the why, which is so important to bring this character back.”

He revealed, “What I don’t talk about is the low-grade year-long panic attack I had writing a script that features the Wolverine. I mean, that’s the scariest thing too, because… he basically uses only uses, what, two words for every 10 that is needed. It’s a very kind of specific thing.”

He said fans can expect Wolverine to be “a little bit different, but still the things we love about him, but also a whole new facet inside of him that I think that people are gonna be really excited to explore.”

Mona asked, “I feel like you guys have set the stage. I mean, I love your off-screen friendship. We see it through tweets, and the fans get to enjoy it. What do you think makes your friendships so special?”

Ryan answered, “Honestly, mainly, I mean, pretty deep down we tell each other anything… I think that that real distinguishing feature is and this is the same for any great partnership or friendship is that we genuinely want to see the other guy win.”

Hugh joked, “We are genuinely great friends and I would say to anyone looking for real friendship if you can find a friend who is really rich, it is so fantastic.”

Mona went on, “You mentioned that Wolverine is a man of few words. You also said that between your friendship, obviously honesty is key. Does art imitate life? Do you ever tell Ryan to shut up sometimes?”

Hugh insisted, “Never… He makes me laugh to, like, cry every single day. Even now, just even now, like today has happened about five times… I don’t think we’ve ever argued.” He teased, “We have a very shallow friendship.”

Ryan interjected, “There’s no real conflicts. No, I mean, we had a tiny disagreement over Lucky Charms whether the cereal brand is a viable source of vitamin C.” Hugh said, laughing, “When you went away on a movie and said, ‘Could you take care of my kids for six months?’”

Ryan said, “We’re lucky that way.”

Mona went on, “Honestly, your comedic timing is perfect in this movie. I also love the fact that we get the ‘Gossip Girl’ reference. So then I felt like I was in on the inside joke. How do you balance between giving the audience you know that wink, but also not overdoing it?”

Ryan said, “The real, real reason is that when we were writing the script, you don’t write a comedy. You write a movie, you write a drama, you write whatever you want to call it, but the comedy is later. So you kind of go back and find the organic spots for that.”

He shared, “People think I improv a lot. I do improv a little bit, but I write a lot of stuff like I write alts to jokes. I’ll like [do] six or seven variations and not just for me but for other cast and that’s the part of the job that I love the most, the writing… The tension of trying to figure out a problem and solve it and that takes a tremendous amount of patience.”

Reynolds insisted, “I’m an inherently lazy writer. I don’t like love it at first and then once I’m in it I don’t want to stop ever. Deadpool, unlike any other character, any other world, is nonstop constant writing. You just kind of feel it, you know, but you never want to overdo it, you want to under do it.”

The stars also had fun quizzing each other on their past movie lines. Watch!