Ryan Reynolds Puts Blake Lively’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Love Interest Through the Ringer in Hilarious Interview

The spouses of movie stars rarely get to interview their on-screen love interests, and Ryan Reynolds is proving why that’s probably a good thing! On Tuesday, the Deadpool & Wolverine star shared a look at his time playing journalist during which he interviewed his wife Blake Lively‘s It Ends With Us co-star, Brandon Sklenar. 

It Ends With Us — adapted from Colleen Hoover’s novel of the same name —  follows flower shop owner Lily Bloom’s (Lively) volatile relationship with boyfriend Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) amid the reappearance of her first love, Atlas Corrigan (Sklenar). The film, directed by Baldoni, also stars Hasan Minhaj and Jenny Slate as Allysa Kincaid, Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister.

Ryan surprises Sklenar while he’s doing a press run for It Ends With Us, and the 1923 actor immediately protests the change in interviewers. 

“This is cool. It’s not every day the husband gets to interview his wife’s love interest in a film, it’s kind of crazy!” Ryan says as Sklenar questions the Deadpool actor’s sudden addition.

“Let’s dive in, shall we? So, I saw you posing in a photo with Mrs. Reynolds, and um — I’m sorry, what do you call her? Do you guys have a nickname or something?” Ryan asks, prompting Sklenar to confirm that they don’t.

Ryan goes on to grill Sklenar about the “suggestive” photoshoot where things take a turn as he inquires how Sklenar got his butt in shape. “Is that genetics? You have some sort of low-angle squat routine to pop that region in that way? Are you smuggling pumpkins?”

After Ryan tells Sklenar that his “heart is beating like crazy” and reminds him of when he went on “that meth journey to confront my inner child,” and quips about his motorcycle riding hobby, The Big Ugly star recommends he take a break. 

“From Blake? Sure,” says Ryan, who shares four children with Lively— daughters James, 9, Inez, 7 and Betty, 4, and son Olin, 1.

But when Ryan does eventually leave — after a long, uncomfortable hug — he’s replaced by his mother, Tammy Reynolds.

“Well, it’s not every day the mother-in-law of the leading lady gets to interview the love interest, and the man trying to replace my sweet little gummy bear Ryan,” Tammy tells Sklenar.

But just like her son, Tammy can’t resist Sklenar’s charm. She even informs him that her husband, James, died in 2015 and that her son is looking for a new dad. Ryan then pops back in, asking Sklenar to be his new dad via blinking, which the latter unintentionally agrees to.

When Tammy’s switched out, it’s to be replaced by Ryan’s best friend and co-star, Hugh Jackman. “It’s not every day a guy gets to interview the love interest of his best friend’s wife, and the guy trying to replace Ryan as a husband. And me as his best mate,” Jackman tells Sklenar menacingly.

The Australian-born actor says he only has one question for Sklenar: “What the hell are you doing messing with my best buddy’s wife?”

But, just like Ryan and Tammy before him, Jackman falls for Sklenar too. In the end, he, Ryan and Tammy fawn over the actor, with Jackman even declaring, “I think we found the next Wolverine.”

Watch the full “interview” below.

Ryan and Lively had been making headlines for weeks as both actors promote their latest projects, Deadpool & Wolverine and It Ends With Us, and it’s not the first time the couple’s work has led to a crossover.

During a recently interview with Variety, Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy discussed Lively and her kids’ cameos in the superhero film. 

“It just honestly was that they were available and always nearby,” Levy explained as the reason for the family cameos. “A lot of times, we would call people into our edit room and have them record something.”

“Little by little, all of the Reynoldses started being a part of the movie, including their youngest,” he continued. “As the proud godfather of Olin, that might be my favorite voice cameo.”

And at the film’s premiere, ET spoke to Ryan, who shared what it means to him to have Lively’s support in his life and career.

“She’s amazing. She is so smart. Everything I do is in lockstep with her and now she just takes every step with me — sometimes the scary steps, sometimes the ones that are, more often than not, aimed right at danger,” he joked. “I am super grateful to her. She’s just so smart and so funny and [she] like really, really helped in like every aspect of this movie.”

Now, as Lively gears up for the release of the highly anticipated film adaptation of It Ends With Us, fans get to see Ryan be the ultimate hype man for his wife.

The 2016 book is loosely based on Hoover’s own childhood and centers on themes of domestic abuse. Chatting with ET’s Denny Directo ahead of the film’s Aug. 9 premiere, the author gushed about Lively’s casting, saying she will “never picture anyone else” as Lily after seeing the actress in the role.

“She is absolutely perfect for the role, when he told me that she was thinking about taking it I refused to get excited because I was like, ‘Oh, what if it doesn’t happen?’ because I was so excited that [it] was a possibility. And, man, she knocked it out of the park,” Hoover told ET.

Lively also shared why she believes fans should be eager for, not nervous about, the upcoming film adaptation.

“Some people will always like a book better than a movie and some people like a movie better than the book, but I think that we just did our best to honor the book and honor the fans, and, I think, really make something that works even by itself,” she told ET at Book Bonanza, the book convention Hoover started with her sisters, Lin and Murphy.

“If you don’t know the book, the movie works. I don’t think there’s any way that if you read the book and you saw the movie that you wouldn’t be thrilled. We really worked hard on that,” she added. “I also believe if you saw the movie and then read the book, you wouldn’t go, ‘Hold on, this isn’t like [the other].’ You can do either. I think they’re both really beautiful.”

Knowing the support readers have given Hoover for telling the personal story, Lively said that connecting with fans is “the most important part” of the film. 

“Colleen, she has such a dedicated fan base. [She was] self-published initially, so this is somebody who the fans really authored the success of your stories,” Lively said. “She wrote stories that resonated with people and didn’t go to all the traditional means that people go to. She went directly to the people she was speaking to and they came forward in masses.”

Of This Ends With Us specifically, Lively added, “This story resonated with so many people, so there’s a great responsibility that comes with that.”

“You want to honor this book and this character that people love so much, but you also want to bring a life and a humanity to it that is true to who you are,” she said. “It’s a lot of different things that you want to accomplish in this story.”

“I’m just so proud of this film,” Lively continued. “I’m just so proud to be here and sharing it with Colleen and the fans. It’s just really special. It was a great honor to take on Lily, and I’m so proud.”

It Ends With Us hits theaters Aug. 9.

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