Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist

Episode: MARVEL STARS: Ryan Reynolds on ‘Deadpool’ Success and His Father’s Legacy
Date: December 13, 2025
Guest: Ryan Reynolds
Host: Willie Geist

Episode Overview

In this heartfelt and candid conversation, Willie Geist sits down with Ryan Reynolds to discuss the phenomenal success of “Deadpool and Wolverine,” the journey it took to bring Deadpool to the big screen, the joys and challenges of creative authorship, his friendship with Hugh Jackman, family life with wife Blake Lively, and — in a particularly moving segment — Reynolds’s reflections on his late father and their shared experience with Parkinson’s disease. The pair also highlight their work with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, discuss the impact of Michael J. Fox, and share insights into family, resilience, and growth.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Tidal Wave of Deadpool & Wolverine’s Success

• Exceeding Expectations: Reynolds reflects on the unprecedented cultural impact and financial success of “Deadpool and Wolverine.”
  • “There’s the sort of outcome which everybody's mostly invested in. It doesn't totally match with the inner experience, which is that I miss making the movie... it never ends.” (03:31, Ryan Reynolds)
• Creative Immersion: He describes the total immersion required as actor, producer, and writer, contrasting blockbusters like Deadpool with less auteur-driven work.
  • “It's a full court press, and it is relentless, and it is a game of inches and detail... it gets a little intense.” (04:24)

2. The Deadpool Phenomenon and Collective Joy

• Cultural Resonance and Joy: Both host and guest note how the film serves as an antidote to cynicism and division.
  • “Let's make something that is just, just a fastball of joy for audiences... something that is complete, meaning that it's not a commercial for another movie.” (06:20, Reynolds)
  • “Movies, sports, and music... those are the places we can go together.” (10:43, Geist)
• Collective Effervescence: Reynolds credits the communal theater experience as a reason for the film’s record-breaking run.
  • “It's that high you get from that experience. And I love that the movie reinforces that thesis...” (09:00, Reynolds)

3. The Origin Story & Reynolds' Creative Authorship

• The Infamous Leaked Footage: Reynolds jokes about the unsolved “leaker” mystery that ushered in the era of Deadpool.
  • “We're hunting this person down... He's not great. No, he's not. No. Not good at the job. Spineless... Just a human jellyfish just taking your money.” (12:48-13:01, Reynolds)
• Career Pivot and Authorship: He discusses how Deadpool marked a turning point, allowing him creative agency and a sense of fulfilling the trust placed in him.
  • “This is the first time I was really gratified by returning the investment that someone made in me... Part of how that happened, I think, was authorship...” (13:26, Reynolds)
  • “Deadpool changed my life in that way...” (13:26)

4. Bringing Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) into the Fold

• Convincing Hugh Jackman: Reynolds describes the process of engaging Jackman, who was initially reluctant to revisit Wolverine after “Logan.”
  • “One of the first pitches I'd crafted for Kevin Feige was in fact, a Wolverine Deadpool film... Marvel just wasn't ready.” (15:12, Reynolds)
  • “Hugh, on August 14, 2022, stopped his car on the LIE and called me... he was like, I want to come back.” (16:50)
• Spontaneous Pitch Success: The greenlight for the film followed a spur-of-the-moment pitch to Marvel, driven by Jackman’s sudden enthusiasm.
  • “It’s a real testament to that fake it till you make it thing... I pitched a story out of, like, it came right out of my butt...” (17:10)

5. The Future of Deadpool

• Will There Be More? Reynolds is unsure, emphasizing quality over quantity and the value of “scarcity and surprise” for the character.
  • “Deadpool tends to work best utilizing scarcity and surprise... I have no plans at the moment. And I'm not making that up.” (18:26, Reynolds)

6. Family, Success, and Rivalry with Blake Lively

• Box Office Rivals, Real Life Partners: Reynolds warmly discusses his wife Blake Lively’s simultaneous success, her nuanced portrayal in “It Ends With Us,” and their mutual support.
  • “Only time in my life I’ve ever dreamt of coming in second. I think that would have been, yeah. And there are moments like the numbers are always different.” (21:10, Reynolds)
  • “You know, it’s always been the one kind of constant with Blake and I is that, like, we really root for each other.” (21:34)

7. Revisiting the Past: Fathers and Legacy

• Reflections on His Father: Reynolds opens up about reevaluating his memories and myths about his late father since becoming a dad himself.
  • “I think the things that I did not like about my father are actually the things that I didn’t like about me. And I think he’s an easy dartboard for that.” (23:57, Reynolds)
  • “I always had a fear that I would be. My dad was a mystery to me... But as I’ve grown into fatherhood... I see how I am not necessarily him. And that relief that came with that allowed me to revisit the past.” (25:15)
• On Regret and Growth: He and Geist swap stories about how even the hardest experiences, or their parents’ most glaring imperfections, shaped them for the better.
  • “Even my worst mistakes, they offered me these crazy avenues of learning, and I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't [mess] up in those moments or screw up...” (26:57, Reynolds)

8. Parkinson’s Disease: Awareness, Support, and Advocacy

• Shared Experience with Parkinson’s: Both have fathers diagnosed young, and both reflect on the denial, silence, and pride of that generation.
  • “My dad said Parkinson’s, I think, three times... in his entire life.” (27:31, Reynolds)
  • “I can also see why neurological condition might sound a little bit less threatening or vulnerable than Parkinson's disease.” (27:57)
• Current Advocacy & Initiatives: Reynolds and his mom are working with Acadia Pharmaceuticals to raise awareness about symptoms (like hallucinations) and the resources now available for families.
  • “Had I known, I think I would have handled it better... My father would have felt way less alone...” (29:44)
• The Unsung Role of Caregivers: He describes the profound, often invisible toll on his mother.
  • “Caregiver fatigue... the amount of difficulty and pain and isolation she felt that she just kind of swallowed down...” (35:06, Reynolds)
  • “It was a turning point for her own agency to remember that she's alive and vital... and for me, too, just to pay that forward with my mom...” (36:26)

9. Legacy, Resilience, and Michael J. Fox

• Michael J. Fox’s Profound Impact: Both reflect on Fox’s example and the enormous influence of the Michael J. Fox Foundation — not just for patients, but the broader community.
  • “What he's done is a great cultural judo move. To redirect energy into something that made millions of people, not just in America, Canada, all over the world, feel less alone.” (41:02, Reynolds)
  • “He embraced the vulnerability that I think a lot of people would struggle with, especially someone in the public eye.” (41:45)
• Enduring Example: Fox’s message is clear: don’t retreat in the face of adversity, keep moving and create something lasting for others.
  • “You don’t have to retreat if you get Parkinson's disease. It's not retreat and go and it's over. It's, no, no, go, go, go, go.” (43:12, Geist)
  • “Also, the fact that he created the Michael J. Fox foundation, which is literally, like he always says, designed to go out of business, that he will have done his job if that business is dead.” (43:54, Reynolds)

Notable Quotes

• Ryan Reynolds, on creating Deadpool:
  • “You don’t finish a movie, you abandon it. In our case, myself and Shawn Levy, we didn’t necessarily finish the movie. It was pried out of our hammerlock death grip in an edit room because it was time.” (03:31)
• On living with success:
  • “I feel like I’m sort of playing with the house’s money sometimes. So it allows me some fleeting glimpses of objectivity around what’s happening.” (06:20)
• On family and change:
  • “People do change. You actually can change your own past... as you look back and actually sort of try to understand how did I utilize the story I had...” (21:34)
• On his father’s legacy:
  • “The memories of my father, they’re not, like an intellectual thing. They’re a DNA thing... The parts of myself that I’m most proud of are real elements of my dad and his stamp and my mom certainly as well.” (37:47)
• On Michael J. Fox:
  • “Michael’s like a genuine trailblazer. And how many people get to say they’re a trailblazer in several different industries?” (41:45)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Deadpool & Wolverine’s success and creative process: 03:10 – 08:46
• On the impact of communal moviegoing (“collective effervescence”): 09:00 – 10:43
• Deadpool origin story and leaked footage: 12:48 – 13:26
• Convincing Hugh Jackman to return as Wolverine: 14:38 – 17:57
• Future of Deadpool: 18:02 – 19:15
• Dual box office rivalry with Blake Lively: 19:30 – 22:06
• Reflecting on his father and legacy: 23:11 – 27:01
• Parkinson’s diagnosis and generational silence: 27:13 – 29:20
• On hallucinations, advocacy, and caregivers: 29:44 – 37:14
• Legacy of Michael J. Fox: 40:26 – 44:03

Memorable Moments

• Willie and Ryan joking about the never-solved “Deadpool test footage leak” and the tongue-in-cheek pursuit of the leaker (12:48).
• Ryan’s candid story of blacking out during the Marvel pitch that resurrected Wolverine (“it came right out of my butt”)—and how spontaneity led to historic success (17:10).
• Heartfelt, vulnerable reflections on fatherhood, the limits of memory, and revisiting narratives about their dads—emotional moments rarely shared in celebrity interviews (23:44, 35:06).
• Ryan’s admiration for Blake Lively’s approach to her role in “It Ends With Us,” especially her resistance to a “victim mindset” and commitment to showing female agency (21:39).
• The pair’s emotional recognition of their mothers’ strength as caregivers (35:06).
• Tribute to Michael J. Fox’s unique and enduring legacy, both as an actor and a philanthropist (41:02–43:54).

Tone & Style

Warm, introspective, at times funny and irreverent (Reynolds’s hallmark), but ultimately profoundly sincere and moving. Both Willie Geist and Ryan Reynolds are open, frank, and affectionate—willing to laugh at themselves, their families, and Hollywood, while earnestly advocating for Parkinson’s awareness and familial empathy.

For listeners seeking takeaways, this episode is a testament to joy—on and off screen—resilience in the face of adversity, and the power of re-examining and rewriting the stories we tell about our families and ourselves.