Ryan Reynolds took the stage at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 5 for a discussion about his career following the premiere of the documentary he produced, “John Candy: I Like Me” (via Entertainment Weekly). Among the “Deadpool” star’s many anecdotes as an actor and producer, Reynolds shared a humbling and humorous story of the time he angered co-star Denzel Washington when his phone went off during a pivotal take on the set of 2012’s “Safe House.”
Directed by Daniel Espinosa, “Safe House” is an action thriller starring Reynolds and Washington as secret agents who forge a tense team-up when mercenaries start to hunt them down. When shooting the film’s final sequence, however, the tension extended behind the scenes, as Reynolds’ phone went off mid-shot, causing the director, the crew and eventually Washington to frustratingly shout, “Who the fuck’s phone is that?”
As Reynolds recalls it, the final scene was the story’s emotional climax, where Washington’s character is dying, surrounded by bodies after a violent battle. Reynolds explains, “He’s been shot, wounded, dying, admits all the stuff that he did wrong. Tears start rolling down his face. And suddenly you hear — and this is take two, by the way, because take one there was a technical problem — we hear [Frank Sinatra singing] ‘Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away.’”
The Sinatra tune happened to be Reynolds’ ringtone at the time, and as the crew and Washington tried to weed out the culprit for ruining the take, Reynolds recalls playing dumb and joining in. “I stand up and look at all the stuntmen around me, and I go, ‘Who the fuck’s phone is that? Inexcusable!’” he admits.
Reynolds says that the Assistant Director eventually realized that Reynolds was responsible, but advised him to remain discreet. “He was like, ‘D, can you do another one?’ And [Washington] was like, ‘We’re going to have to, aren’t we?’” Reynolds remembers, “And I’m like, ‘Yes, [because of] the stunt men!’ Inexcusable!”
The actor remembers the event with due humility, saying, “Dumb-dumb is sitting on his phone. I’m dumb-dumb in this story. And I can feel everybody looking around like, ‘What the fuck is happening right now?’ I can see Denzel with a tear in his eye.”
Despite the on-set mishap, “Safe House” grossed $208 million at the box office on a relatively small budget, becoming a sleeper hit for Universal Pictures in the first quarter of 2012.
variety.com
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