Ryan Reynolds Shares Key Hollywood Lesson Learned from 'Green Lantern'

Ryan Reynolds is taking a thoughtful look back at how he approached his work while filming 'Green Lantern' in 2011. During his appearance at The Wall Street Journal's CMO Council Summit recently, the 49-year-old actor discussed how the experience ultimately became one of the most defining creative lessons of his career.

When asked to identify a professional setback that later proved valuable, Reynolds acknowledged that 'Green Lantern' often comes to mind for many people. He shared the moment with humour, noting that despite the movie's reputation, his son considers it his favourite film and watches it constantly. Reynolds admitted that it took a significant amount of personal growth to reach a place where he could walk past the screen without critiquing what he might have changed to improve it.

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'Green Lantern' Was Important to Ryan Reynolds

Although the movie was a critical and commercial disappointment, it played an important role in Reynolds' life. It was on this project that he met Blake Lively, who later became his wife. The two married in 2012 and now share four children: James, Inez, Betty, and Olin.

Reflecting on his mindset during that period in his career, Ryan Reynolds explained that he was far more deferential on set, often adopting a mentality of following instructions without question. He recalled holding strong creative opinions but feeling unable to voice them, especially after witnessing a decision on another project that he believed would harm the film's outcome. 

In that moment, he realised that if a movie failed, the blame would rest with him rather than the producers or directors—so he wanted to take ownership of the creative choices that shaped his career, for better or worse.

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Ryan Reynolds' Views on 'Green Lantern'

Reynolds has long been open about his dissatisfaction with how 'Green Lantern' turned out. He admitted that he only watched the film in full for the first time in 2021. Yet, despite the challenges surrounding its production, he has come to recognise the valuable perspective it gave him.

Earlier this year at the TIME 100 Summit, Ryan Reynolds said the film taught him some of the most important creative lessons he has ever learned. He explained that enormous budgets and extended timelines can stifle innovation rather than encourage it, while creative restrictions often push artists to do their best work. He remembered feeling that too much money was being funnelled into visual effects instead of being directed toward stronger storytelling, which ultimately weakened the final product.

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Though 'Green Lantern' was not the success he hoped for, the experience reshaped Reynolds' philosophy as both an actor and a producer. It also paved the way for him to reinvent his career, eventually leading to the breakout success of the Deadpool franchise, where he exercised much more creative control.

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