Ryan Reynolds claps back at critic who questioned his inclusion in Actors on Actors series

Ryan Reynolds has hit back at a critic who mocked his inclusion in Variety’s forthcoming season of its popular “Actors on Actors” series.

The entertainment publication recently released its list of movie star pairings who will sit down in conversation with each other.

Reynolds, who starred in Deadpool & Wolverine this summer, has been paired with Andrew Garfield, who recently led We Live in Time. Their episode will kick off the new season on Monday (December 9), followed by conversations released daily across 12 consecutive days.

In a since-protected X/Twitter comment, a user wrote: “Andrew Garfield talking about playing a husband and father who’s [sic] wife decides to forgo cancer treatment and Ryan Reynolds talking about playing Deadpool.”

“Correct. Andrew’s a genius,” Reynolds, 48, responded. “He and Florence [Pugh] are magic together in We Live in Time. They’re heartbreaking and charming and spend the entire film in a high-wire act of humanity and constraint. And yes I am Deadpool, but I will take a second and speak up in defense of comedy.

“Dramatic work is difficult,” he acknowledged. “And we’re also meant to see it’s difficult, which is one of the reasons it feels visceral and effective.

“Comedy is also very difficult,” he continued.” But it has an added dimension in that it’s meant to look and feel effortless. You intentionally hide the stitching and unstitching.

“I think both disciplines are beautiful. And both work beautifully together. Comedy and drama subsist on tension. Both thrive when subverting expectation. Both thrive backstopped by real emotion. And both are deeply subjective,” Reynolds concluded. “Your favorite comedy might be Anchorman. Mine might be Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia.”

Reynolds reprised his role of the disfigured Canadian mercenary alongside Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine in the latest Deadpool sequel.

Deadpool & Wolverine heavily divided critics, with reviews ranging from “tedious and annoying” to claims that it’s proof the Marvel franchise still has life.

The Independent’s Louis Chilton lambasted the movie, saying that if this “is what the future of cinema looks like, it’ll take more than a few plucky heroes to save it.”

“It is a film that is about absolutely nothing — a film with no discernable purpose or artistic ambitions, beyond the perpetuation of its own corporate myth,” he added.

Meanwhile, Garfield’s latest title, We Live In Time, from director John Crowley, has garnered nearly the same range in reviews. In fact, it actually sits one percent lower on Rotten Tomatoes than Deadpool & Wolverine’s 79 percent.

The Daily Telegraph’s Robbie Collin called it “calamitous” in a paltry one-star review while The New York Times’ Manohla Dargis called Pugh and Garfield “pleasantly watchable.”

Other celebrities to look forward to on Variety’s new season of “Actors on Actors” include Nicole Kidman and Zendaya; Saoirse Ronan and Selena Gomez; Angelina Jolie and Cynthia Erivo; and Ariana Grande and Paul Mescal.