Ryan Reynolds Says Filming ‘Green Lantern’ Helped Him Get Over His Fear of Flying
Ryan Reynolds is currently one of the most revered actors in Hollywood. His performance range has proven that he is versatile in almost every role he plays. The star’s movies have become top contenders in the box office, thus positioning him as a bankable actor. Although Reynolds has been acting for a long time, his role in Green Lantern helped his career in more ways than one. The part seemingly helped the funnyman get over his fear of flying.
Ryan Reynolds played Hal Jordan in ‘Green Lantern’
There is one rule that goes unspoken when talking about Green Lantern; never talk about Green Lantern. The movie was a flop in various aspects, from half-baked CGI to the wanting storylines and dialogues. Fans of the original comics were not too pleased with the film adaptation, but it did help launch Ryan Reynolds into stardom.
Green Lantern follows a group of superheroes called the Green Lanterns, whose mission is to protect the universe from anyone who seeks to destroy it. Thus enters Reynolds’ character Hal Jordan, a test pilot with a chip on his shoulder.
After Parallax escapes from prison, one Green Lantern, Abin Sur, tries to fight him off but fails, thus crash landing on Earth. Before he dies, his ring finds Hal, and Abin Sur tells him to say the Green Lantern oath. After doing so, Hal is transported to Oa, where he is made aware of his duty to the universe.
Elsewhere, Hector Hammond is summoned to perform an autopsy on Abin Sur’s body, and during the procedure, a piece of Parallax enters him. He gains telekinetic and telepathic abilities that help him learn about his father’s intentions and attempts to kill him several times, eventually succeeding.
After intense training, Hal returns to Earth to fight Parallax, who has taken over Hector’s mind. The two battle it out, and Parallax consumes Hector, but Hal, as a Green Lantern, overpowers him by luring him to the sun before passing out himself.
‘Green Lantern’ helped him overcome his fear of flying
In 2013, Ryan Reynolds spoke to talk show host Jimmy Fallon about his fear of flying and how Green Lantern helped him overcome it. He explained that he developed a fear of flying after a harrowing skydiving experience that saw him free-falling through the air.
The actor explained that he took on the skydiving challenge to get his license, and during his jump, his parachute malfunctioned. He said, “So it’s just sort of flapping in the wind, and it really wasn’t slowing me down at all. It was just making me spin out of control and almost making me unconscious.”
The Van Wilder star recalled that although he had a backup parachute in hand, he was too scared to pull the cord, thinking he wouldn’t have any more chutes left. Thankfully he came to his senses and did the right thing, thus saving his own life. Although he survived the terrifying experience, Reynolds left scarred, and it wasn’t until he appeared in Green Lantern that he was able to overcome the fear.
As The Today Show reports, Reynolds faced his fear during filming for Green Lantern as his character had to fly before and after acquiring the ring. Even though he was helped with high wires, his nieces and nephews wanted to see the movie that allowed Reynolds to conquer his fear and give the one-of-a-kind performance.
‘Green Lantern’ helped Ryan Reynolds meet his future wife
Even though Green Lantern was a flop, Ryan Reynolds walked away with many benefits, including his future wife Blake Lively, who played Carol Ferris. The two, however, didn’t start seeing each other seriously until about a year later when they went to Boston together on a train.
Reynolds likened the experience of falling in love with Lively to a fairytale. The two got married in 2012 in a quiet ceremony. The pair share three daughters James, Inez, and Betty.
