Matthew Lawrence claims Ryan Reynolds had issues with Oscar-nominated crew on film set: ‘Not what we hired you to do’
Matthew Lawrence claims a “young” Ryan Reynolds was difficult to work with in the early aughts.
The “Boy Meets World” alum alleged on his “Brotherly Love Podcast” that the “Deadpool & Wolverine” star had disputes with producers and the director for their 2000 film, “Boltneck,” over creative differences.
“He’d walk out — just kind of really wanted to do his thing and the producers would get really upset,” Lawrence, 45, claimed in the episode.
“They even told him, ‘Ryan, this is a bad Jim Carrey impersonation. This is not what we hired you to do. You can’t impersonate somebody, you gotta do your own thing.’”
The “Mrs. Doubtfire” star claimed Reynolds, 48, “got upset” over the producers’ criticism and told them in response, “I’m doing my thing.”
In “Boltneck,” Lawrence played a “science nerd” named Frank Stein, who revives Reynolds’ corpse after he’s killed by a pair of bullies. He claimed the producers wanted the film to mirror a sci-fi thriller like “Donnie Darko” but Reynolds was “trying to ‘Deadpool’” the script.
“There was this major pull between one of the lead actors … so that is what my experience with Ryan Reynolds was,” the “Hot Chick” actor added. “He obviously matured as a human being.”
Lawrence also shared during that story that he was “privy to a meeting between the director” and Reynolds, and added, “This crew, I think, had just been nominated for an Oscar, so they were kind of a big deal at that moment. Talk about frustrations on set with actors.”
According to IMDb, “Boltneck” was produced Paul Colichman and Mark R. Harris, who both worked on “Gods and Monsters,” which won an Academy Award for best adapted screenplay in 1999.
Lawrence claimed the crew had written off Reynolds due to his alleged behavior, saying, “So much hope for this guy. He’s going nowhere,” which the “Brotherly Love” star laughed off given the latter’s career rise.
He concluded, “They blamed that movie not working on him because they said there was this whole conflict.”
Page Six has reached out to Reynolds’ reps for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Lawrence recounted his experience while covering Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s ongoing legal battle — which Reynolds has allegedly played a major role in.
Baldoni, 41, has sued the “Green Lantern” star, as well as Lively, for defamation and extortion, after the married couple accused him of sexual harassment and other egregious claims in a California Civil Rights Department complaint and subsequent lawsuit.
The actor-director alleged in his complaint that Reynolds aggressively shouted at him after he inquired about Lively’s weight while filming “It Ends With Us.” Baldoni has denied the “fat-shaming” claims.
He has also slammed Reynolds and Lively for re-writing a pivotal rooftop scene, and accused the couple of trying to take over production of the drama, which he and his company, Wayfarer Studios, optioned from Colleen Hoover to turn her novel into a film.
In his lawsuit, Baldoni claimed he “felt obliged to text Lively to say that he had liked her pages and hadn’t needed Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend [Taylor Swift] to pressure him.”
“The message could not have been clearer. Baldoni was not just dealing with Lively. He was also facing Lively’s ‘dragons,’ two of the most influential and wealthy celebrities in the world, who were not afraid to make things very difficult for him.”
Lively, 37, has acknowledged in the past that she, too, likes to overstep her boundaries on set.
She revealed at a Forbes Power Women’s Summit in 2022, which resurfaced amid her feud with Baldoni, “When I went into meetings, I would just seem like I’m just there to be the actor and ready to get the gig. I wouldn’t reveal that I actually need to have authorship in order to feel fulfilled.
“So I think that for them, sometimes that might have felt like a rug pulled because you’re like, you’re trying to assert yourself into something that we didn’t hire you to do.”
However, the “Gossip Girl” alum has claimed that Baldoni’s suit is just retaliation for her speaking out about his alleged harassment, calling it “another chapter in the abuser playbook.”
A trial date for Lively and Baldoni’s consolidated cases has been set for March 9, 2026. All parties declined to move forward with mediation.
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Ryan Reynolds ‘really upset’ film crew on set, co-star claims: ‘Not what we hired you to do’
“Somebody stop me!”
Ryan Reynolds has been leaning into his comedy chops since he started acting, according to his former co-star Matthew Lawrence.
During a discussion about Reynolds and Blake Lively’s legal battle with Justin Baldoni on Friday’s episode of his “Brotherly Love” podcast, Lawrence, 45, shared a story about when he and Reynolds, 48, worked together on the 1998 Frankenstein movie “Boltneck.”
“It just missed the mark, but it was a really interesting movie, great script,” Lawrence said. “Anyway, the funny part about it is that the production team was having a really hard time with Ryan. This is young Ryan.
“I had grown up in the industry so I had known by way around a set by that point. I was dialed in,” Lawrence said. “He wasn’t dialed in.”
The “Mrs. Doubtfire” star explained about Reynolds, “He’d walk out, just wanted to kind of do his thing. And the producers were getting really upset, and they even told them that, ‘Ryan, this is a bad Jim Carrey impersonation. This is not what we hired you to do. You can’t impersonate someone. You got to do your own thing.’
“And he got upset at that,” Lawrence claimed. “And he was like, ‘I’m doing my thing.’ And then I was privy to a meeting between the director. This crew, I think they were just nominated for an Oscar, so they were kind of a big deal at that moment. Talk about frustration on set with actors.”
Lawrence said that, at the time, he thought to himself, “I can’t believe this guy. We had so much hope for this guy. He’s going nowhere.
“You never know in Hollywood, folks,” Lawrence added with a laugh. “You never know.”
Lawrence alleged that the people behind “Boltneck,” which was directed by Mitch Marcus, written by Dave Payne, and produced by Paul Colichman and Mark R. Harris, blamed Reynolds for the movie “not working.”
But Lawrence said that he actually commends the “Green Lantern” star for how he acted at the time.
“I’m not even mad at Ryan in the sense that he honestly stayed true to who he truly is authentically,” he shared. “Honestly, he was trying to ‘Deadpool’ it. That’s what he was trying to do to the script on set.
“That is my experience with Ryan Reynolds,” Lawrence said. “He obviously matured as a human being, but he was doing the same thing. That’s always been his shtick, his thing.”
The Post has reached out to Reynolds’ rep for comment.
The “Deadpool” star and Lively, 37, are in a major lawsuit with her “It Ends With Us” co-star and director.
Lively sued Baldoni, 41, in December, accusing him of sexual harassment and orchestrating a public smear campaign against her.
The “Jane the Virgin” actor has denied all Lively’s accusations and countersued her and Reynolds, alleging defamation, extortion and more. Lively and Reynolds have denied Baldoni’s claims.
In her complaint against Baldoni that was published by the New York Times in December, Lively said her husband — who wrote the rooftop scene in her movie, despite not being a producer on the project — has been “affected mentally, physically and professionally” by the “pain” inflicted on Lively and their four children.
Baldoni, in his lawsuit against the NYT, accused Reynolds of “berating” him at a meeting at the couple’s New York City penthouse over Baldoni allegedly fat-shaming Lively. Baldoni said the incident was “traumatic” and that he’d “never been spoken to like that in his life.”
Lively and Reynolds have laid low amid the drama with Baldoni — aside from when they attended the “SNL 50” special on Feb. 16, where Reynolds cracked a joke about the lawsuit.
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Ryan Reynolds’s Costar Claims Ryan Would Get “Upset” At Being Directed And “Walk Out” Of Their Movie Set
“He was a total schlub.”
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