Ryan Reynolds

7 months agoMy friend (and friend to many) Eric Raymond Gilliland passed away Sunday. He was kind. And gentle. And funny as hell. And incapable of holding a conversation that was cruel or tore someone down. It’s a tragedy he’s gone and a tragedy more people won’t have the chance to know him. I had Eric as a friend for 27 years. He was the first bigtime meeting I had at the start of my career. He’d finished working as a writer on ROSEANNE and had a swank bungalow office on the Fox lot in LA. I was nervous as hell to meet him. I’d gotten into my cups the night before and the hangover wasn’t helping. My head was pounding like crazy, but it was my stomach that worried me… I had those horrible little tell-tale burps. Badness was brewing. Eric wasn’t how I imagined a seriously successful comedy writer. He was so approachable. When he smiled, his nostrils flared and his eyelids lowered by half. Imagine Pixar, but Pixar is Eric’s face. It felt like I’d known him forever. And there are hundreds, if not thousands of bartenders, cashiers and shopkeepers in dozens of countries who feel the same. I traveled all over the world with Eric. He introduced me to Vaudeville and Jack Benny and welcomed me into his friend circle of impossibly talented writers and performers. He was my university. He helped me grow and find my voice. And he did all of it while finding himself. Eric never stopped becoming Eric. He eventually moved to NYC and found a new gear. He walked everywhere. He had Swedish Glug parties. He appreciated old, forgotten things. He loved soup. Jesus Christ, the man loved soup. Go to his twitter account for proof. When I walked out of that meeting at Fox all those years ago, I was hit with the undeniable urge to see him again. As soon as I’d finished violently throwing up in the rose bush outside his office, I popped back in and gave him my phone number. I also let him know I’d recently thrown up in the rose bush outside his office. This news seemed to please him. The rose bush died but Eric lived 27 more years.

8 months agoNearly a decade of getting to do this. 10 years ago, we would have gleefully taken these BONKERS 2nd weekend numbers as our opening weekend. The way #DeadpoolAndWolverine has captured the moment is hard to process. Feels a bit like it’s happening to someone else. Either way, making these movies has been more fun than anyone has a right to have. I can’t help but skip down memory lane a bit. There are way too many people who’ve made pivotal creative contributions to list, but obviously my long time co-writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (without whom there would be no Deadpool movie) Tim Miller, Mr David Leitch (who also made Fall Guy — one of the best of the summer films), 20th Century Fox, George Dewey and Kevin Feige. Last on the list but first in my heart: my creative, spiritual (and damn near literal) brothers, Shawn Levy and Hugh Jackman. This has always been a game of inches and the relentlessness we hit this movie with (particularly in post production which is another phase of the writing process) is something I’ll never forget. Thank you to every single person who showed up for this film. Thank you to everyone seeing it multiple times, making friends with new characters and tipping our hats to some familiar faces we love from the past. What a damn thrill this has been. ❤️⚔️❤️

7 months agoMy friend (and friend to many) Eric Raymond Gilliland passed away Sunday. He was kind. And gentle. And funny as hell. And incapable of holding a conversation that was cruel or tore someone down. It’s a tragedy he’s gone and a tragedy more people won’t have the chance to know him. I had Eric as a friend for 27 years. He was the first bigtime meeting I had at the start of my career. He’d finished working as a writer on ROSEANNE and had a swank bungalow office on the Fox lot in LA. I was nervous as hell to meet him. I’d gotten into my cups the night before and the hangover wasn’t helping. My head was pounding like crazy, but it was my stomach that worried me… I had those horrible little tell-tale burps. Badness was brewing. Eric wasn’t how I imagined a seriously successful comedy writer. He was so approachable. When he smiled, his nostrils flared and his eyelids lowered by half. Imagine Pixar, but Pixar is Eric’s face. It felt like I’d known him forever. And there are hundreds, if not thousands of bartenders, cashiers and shopkeepers in dozens of countries who feel the same. I traveled all over the world with Eric. He introduced me to Vaudeville and Jack Benny and welcomed me into his friend circle of impossibly talented writers and performers. He was my university. He helped me grow and find my voice. And he did all of it while finding himself. Eric never stopped becoming Eric. He eventually moved to NYC and found a new gear. He walked everywhere. He had Swedish Glug parties. He appreciated old, forgotten things. He loved soup. Jesus Christ, the man loved soup. Go to his twitter account for proof. When I walked out of that meeting at Fox all those years ago, I was hit with the undeniable urge to see him again. As soon as I’d finished violently throwing up in the rose bush outside his office, I popped back in and gave him my phone number. I also let him know I’d recently thrown up in the rose bush outside his office. This news seemed to please him. The rose bush died but Eric lived 27 more years.

8 months agoNearly a decade of getting to do this. 10 years ago, we would have gleefully taken these BONKERS 2nd weekend numbers as our opening weekend. The way #DeadpoolAndWolverine has captured the moment is hard to process. Feels a bit like it’s happening to someone else. Either way, making these movies has been more fun than anyone has a right to have. I can’t help but skip down memory lane a bit. There are way too many people who’ve made pivotal creative contributions to list, but obviously my long time co-writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (without whom there would be no Deadpool movie) Tim Miller, Mr David Leitch (who also made Fall Guy — one of the best of the summer films), 20th Century Fox, George Dewey and Kevin Feige. Last on the list but first in my heart: my creative, spiritual (and damn near literal) brothers, Shawn Levy and Hugh Jackman. This has always been a game of inches and the relentlessness we hit this movie with (particularly in post production which is another phase of the writing process) is something I’ll never forget. Thank you to every single person who showed up for this film. Thank you to everyone seeing it multiple times, making friends with new characters and tipping our hats to some familiar faces we love from the past. What a damn thrill this has been. ❤️⚔️❤️