Ryan Reynolds on Taking a Sabbatical, How He Recharges, and More

Ryan Reynolds is opening up to “Extra’s” Cheslie Kryst about why he’s taking a break from acting, a daily ritual that changed his life, and playing a “bit of a rascal” in “Red Notice.”

Reynolds set the record straight on his sabbatical, explaining how the pandemic played a role in him taking a break.

“The pandemic was really hard on kids… I recognize and acknowledge the fact that I’m obscenely fortunate to not be paycheck to paycheck, so I was able to be home with my kids when we were in lockdown. It made me think how important that time is and then all of the films that I had… were suddenly back to back-to-back as we came out of the pandemic and that was really hard because my kids were in school and I couldn’t bring them with me.”

He went on, “My wife and I tend to not work at the same time so we can always be with the kids and that was a real struggle for me and I just felt like I needed to be home more. So it doesn’t mean that I’m stopping work or stopping development or stopping other things I’m doing, I’m just not shooting films in the next little while so at least work from home and be there at morning and at night.”

Ryan takes it one step further by turning off his phone at night, a daily ritual that allows him to connect with his family more.

“One thing I’ve learned to do is put the phone down at night,” he said. “It is a discipline, it is hard in this day and age. We are all sort of addicted to our phones and social media… so putting that stuff down at night has changed my life. That has allowed me to be more present with my family and I have found that to be weirdly and unexpectedly restorative.”

He also chatted about his art heist movie “Red Notice” and playing Nolan, who he describes as “a bit of a scamp, a bit of a rascal.”

Reynolds went on, “I just kind of love characters like that that are not really taking themselves too seriously. He’s having fun with the situation he’s in. You feel like there are stakes but you feel like he will roll with just about anything that happens to him, good or bad.”

This is also his first time co-starring with Dwyane Johnson, aside from his appearance in “Hobbs & Shaw.”

Why did it take so long? He blames The Rock’s busy schedule, joking, “Dwayne is a very busy man… He sleeps in a full sprint.”

Despite their friendship, the pair are not workout buddies.

Ryan said, “He doesn’t let me in the Iron Paradise, and I think that is wise, because I tend to be a little pranky and I’m sure I would do something in there that would not please ‘the bull,’ so to speak. I don’t think I want to get Dwayne ‘real, real’ mad at me — I want to get him fake mad at me, which is my comfort zone.”

He’s also starring in the upcoming film “Spirited” with Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer.

Ryan told Cheslie of preparing for the film, “Song and dance camp was the best. It was challenging but amazing to be with Octavia and Will and learning a new thing… something that genuinely scared the crap out of us… We were all pretty terrified, and had a lot of fun along the way.”