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RYAN REYNOLDS
Contributed by Michael J. Lee, Executive Editor
for Radio Free Entertainment
September 28, 2005
The food service industry makes an easy target for parody in the ensemble comedy Waiting, which follows the exploits of the employees of a fictional, Fridays-esque restaurant appropriately dubbed Shenanigans. In a perpetual battle against disgruntled customers and the responsibilities of adulthood, the waiters, cooks, and busboys of the dining establishment partake in childish pranks and antics, including an ongoing game in which the guys devise elaborate ways to flash their junk to their fellow man. The comedy is decidedly R-rated, outpacing American Pie in its delivery of rude and crude humor.
The cast includes Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, and Anna Faris as servers with a myriad of issues; Chi McBride as a meditative dish washer; John Francis Daley as a buffeted trainee; Andy Milonakis as a rapping burnout; comedian Dane Cook as rage-filled cook; and Vanessa Lengies as Shenanigans' fetching, jailbait hostess. The two scene-stealers, however, are Luis Guzman as a vulgar chef and Alanna Ubach as a dangerously unstable waitress.
In this interview, Ryan Reynolds talks about doing time as a server, growing up in a family full of cops, and watching sophomoric comedies.
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The Interview
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MEDIA: So have you done time in the service industry?
RYAN: Oh yeah. I was a busboy for about a year and a half in Vancouver and worked two jobs. One at a yacht club serving overprivileged kids D-grade beef. And at a little sort of nightclub type place, which was hell, basically.
Are those places still around?
Yeah, they're both still there. Definitely.
Do they have an autographed picture of you on the wall?
[jokes] Not any more. I'm sure after this movie, they're removing that very quickly.
Having to serve these overprivileged kids, did you have any desire to lash back like the cooks in Waiting?
Oh God, yeah. Those desires definitely surfaced, I just didn't act on them. I don't even remember what they do to the food in this movie, it's been so fricken long since I've [filmed it]. I've been signed onto this thing since 2001, so I can't even remember. [laughs] But I know they do some terrible things, if memory serves.
Do you find it strange to promote a movie that you filmed so long ago?
[jokes] I'm convinced it's not even coming out. Yeah, it's a little odd when you do something that's way back in the day.
You're right--the movie is not really being released. You're actually on an episode of Punk'd right now.
Yeah, I'm sure of it! I know, I'm going to wake up in a cold sweat in a minute cursing Ashton Moore-Kutcher.
What attracted you to Waiting back in 2001?
It was really in line with where I was back then. I mean, all I wanted to do back then was be politically incorrect. That was kind of my own private little rage against the machine, I suppose.
Do you feel like you've changed a lot since then?
Well, it's like if you see a snapshot of yourself five years ago, you go, "Wow, I was in such a different place back then." Sometimes we evolve so rapidly, that can even happen with a two week thing. Nothing captures a moment in time better than film.
Did writer/director Rob McKittrick tailor your role specifically for you? It seems right up your alley.
No, he didn't at all. He was really specific about the whole movie. This is a real vision that he had for a restaurant--an accounting of his experiences in a restaurant. So he was actually shockingly specific about everything he wanted. And I really have to heap all of the praise and/or blame onto him for everything. [laughs] Yeah, he was very specific in exactly what he wanted, and I feel like he got exactly what he wanted, too.
Are we going to see more comedies like this from you, or are you sort of past them?
If it's something different, I'll do anything. I don't care if it's sophomoric or whatever. I'm a huge fan of Wedding Crashers and The 40 Year-Old Virgin--these kind of movies that are sort of, to me, harkening back to that rated-R kind of Stripes...that stuff. I love that. I would do that till the day I die. But to continue to venture into anything that's sort of derivative of stuff I've done...You know, the Van Wilder kind of stuff...No, probably not. I'm talking about doing a movie called Horrible Bosses right now, which is a rated-R comedy with Frank Oz which I'm excited about. It's sort of like Strangers on a Train--three friends that decide to kill each other's [bosses], which is just, I think, a genius idea.
Are you still tentatively going to do a movie with The Rock?
Yeah, we're trying to figure that out. It's just a scheduling issue...We have a couple options. I think it's just a matter of which one gets to the table first. One of them is a little bit closer to some stories of my childhood with my brothers. My brothers are cops, and my dad was a cop, and there's a lot of that law enforcement in my family and nepotism within the law enforcement. One project kind of mirrors that, and I've been creating it with [screenwriter] Sheldon Turner. So that's the one I'm excited about. But I honestly don't know when we'd shoot it.
Are you the youngest of your brothers?
Yeah, the youngest of four boys.
Coming from a family of cops, did you get special treatment from the fuzz?
Well, my brother once cuffed me to the sink for eating his leftover pizza. No, I mean, it's not like I drive by speed traps screaming, "I'm above the law! I'm immune to the pitfalls of addiction! Catch me, pig!"
Some people think the law doesn't come down on you as hard if you're related to the police.
[jokes] No, my brother would be the first guy to give me a ticket, 'cuz he's a f*cker. But that's what brothers do. I remember I was with my brother on a traffic stop once, and this guy was just speeding or something, and the guy asked for a warning. And my brother goes, "Okay, warning: here comes your ticket!" So I wouldn't expect him to let me off if he caught me speeding.
Is the danger aspect of their job rough on married life?
I can imagine it's probably pretty hard. My brothers are all married, and my dad, of course, has been married to my mom for 41 years. [jokes] I assume he's my father. But you know, I think that's a tough racket for any of those guys. You're going out in the world and you're seeing things that you can't possibly express or share [with] your partner. Your partner being your spouse...I don't mean your partner being the one in the car with you. But it's got to be hard. I don't pretend to know.
What do they think of you being an actor in a family full of cops?
[jokes] I think I'm their favorite daughter. You know, when you come from a family of roughnecks like that, what I do is probably not necessarily their idea of a living. But no, they're really proud of me, and they share in it with me as much as they can, and I share in their lives. I'm as interested in what my brother did during the day as he is what I did.
We've got to wrap this up with a question related to Waiting. How much do you tip at restaurants?
20%, always. Every time. Minimum 20%. You gotta take care of your server.
Thanks for your time.
See you, guys. Thank you very much.
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