Ryan Reynolds has never shied away from letting the world know that he hated Green Lantern. The 2011 movie was a critical and commercial flop that very nearly killed the actor's career (he wouldn't regain his leading man status in Hollywood until after Deadpool's release in 2016).
During a recent appearance at the TIME 100 Summit in New York City, Reynolds admitted that Green Lantern is his 2-year-old son Olin's "favourite movie," and explained that he "learned all the most amazing lessons I could ever have in the creative space from that movie."
Elaborating on the latter point, Reynolds said, "A lot of people when they talk about things, they frame it like a Ted Talk or something, where it's like, 'I knew at the time.' I realized I was internalizing these ideas but I couldn't have told you at the time, 'This is what it is.' But too much money, too much time wrecks creativity. It just murders it. And constraint is the greatest creative tool you could possibly have."
After he saw "a lot of money being spent [on] special effects and all sorts of stuff" while shooting Green Lantern, Reynolds recalled, "I remember suggesting, we could write a scene in the movie where people talk. I don't know. There could be a fun exchange of dialogue. It doesn't cost anything. And they would say, 'Just spectacle. Spectacle.' "
"So, anyway, character over spectacle was the lesson that I took with me, in retrospect," he added. "I look back now, it's what really shapes my point of view."
Those lessons certainly seemed to carry over to the Deadpool franchise, where Reynolds found a far greater level of success, both in terms of critical acclaim and box office takings.
While the actor continues to play coy with regards to his future as the Merc with the Mouth, Reynolds said elsewhere in this interview that he prefers to see Wade Wilson "isolated." He noted, "If Deadpool becomes an Avenger or an X-Men, we're at the end. That's his wish fulfillment, and we can't give him that for a long time."
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Angela Bassett, and Tim Robbins, Green Lantern was released to largely negative reviews in 2011. With a reported $200 million budget, it grossed only $237.2 million worldwide and was one of the biggest box office flops ever at the time.
Hal Jordan has been on the shelf ever since, but will return, played by Kyle Chandler, in DC Studios' upcoming Lanterns TV series on HBO.
You can hear more from Reynolds in the player below.