Ryan Reynolds Shares Valuable Lessons Learned from His Experience on Green Lantern

Ryan Reynolds; Ryan Reynolds in 2011’s Green Lantern.
Credit :

Sean T. Smith/wsj; warner bros.

Key Takeaways

• Ryan Reynolds reflected on his experience with Green Lantern during The Wall Street Journal‘s CMO Council Summit.
• "You laugh, but my son, it’s his favorite movie, and he watches it every f—— day," the actor mentioned.
• Reynolds met his wife, Blake Lively, on the set of Green Lantern, despite the film being labeled a box office failure.

Ryan Reynolds took a moment to revisit his time working on the 2011 film Green Lantern, sharing insights during his appearance at The Wall Street Journal‘s CMO Council Summit on November 18.

When asked to identify a previous career misstep that became a teaching moment, Reynolds pointed to Green Lantern, stating, “Creatively speaking, it’s hard to say. Someone might say Green Lantern.” He added humorously, “You laugh, but my son, it’s his favorite movie and he watches it every f—— day.”

Reflecting on how he has grown since the film, Reynolds asked the audience, “Do you understand the work I’ve had to do to get to the place where I can just pass by that screen and not go, ‘Well, we could have [done something to make it better]?’” The audience chuckled in response.

The film, widely recognized as a critical and commercial disappointment, nevertheless paved the way for significant personal milestones for Reynolds. He met Lively on set, and the couple married in 2012. They now have four children together.

As Reynolds reminisced about his earlier career mentality, he quipped, “That was a time in my life when I was ‘Yes, sir, no, sir. How high can I jump, sir?’” He expressed that creative differences often left him feeling like he would “lie in” the “nail in a coffin.”

“It’s true,” he continued, “They don’t say ‘This producer’s movie flopped,’ or ‘This director’s [movie flopped].’ That’s me. So if I’m going to be on that headline, I’d like to be the architect of my own demise — or success.”

Although Reynolds has publicly shared his dissatisfaction with Green Lantern, he has acknowledged the valuable lessons it imparted. In a previous discussion, he noted that “too much money, too much time wrecks creativity,” emphasizing that constraints can often drive more innovative outcomes.