Everyone has bad days at work, even Hollywood’s biggest stars. Ryan Reynolds proved this by sharing a story of his worst ever acting job. No, it wasn’t Green Lantern or something that happened on the set of Deadpool 3. It was when he was a fledgeling actor on a TV series trying to make it big in Tinsel Town.
“One of my first jobs was I was on a sitcom, and it was a pilot, and I was maybe 18 or 19 years old,” Reynolds told ComicBook.com. “They rewrote everything right before the audience came in. So it was a pilot. There was a ton of stakes. It was a live audience, and nobody knew their lines. Everyone was trying to rapidly scramble and figure out.”
Not knowing your lines during filming would be daunting for even the most experienced of thespians. Thankfully, Reynolds said he managed to roll with the punches, though, by employing a skill that’s made him a household name in recent years, his quick wit and skill with improvisation.
“That was actually where the first time I really tried to experiment with improvisation on camera in the moment. And it sort of saved my life at that moment, but it was definitely a nightmare scenario,” Reynolds explained. “It was the exact same dream you’re having where you’re just as unprepared as humanly possible. Your face is piping hot, and there’s four or 500 people sitting in an audience watching you flounder.”
Reynold’s sharp tongue and ability to craft a zinger seemingly on the fly would ultimately lead to him becoming one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars. He appeared in the action movie Red Notice for Netflix, which has become one of the streaming service’s biggest-ever movies.