Ryan Reynolds appeared at the National Board of Review Awards gala on Jan. 7, 2025 to present Wicked with the best film award, Variety reports. It was his first public appearance since his wife Blake Lively made a formal complaint against It Ends With Us director and co-star Justin Baldoni, and it’s arguable her experience fueled some of Reynolds’s speech at the event.
Reynolds addressed the crowd, which included Wicked alum Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater, and director Jon M. Chu. He stated:
“‘Wicked’ is indeed wicked. It dares to center two powerful women. It examines a nuanced, complex relationship which has resonated with people for over two decades on stage… Stories about women seem to be held to a different set of standards, and that is to say that they’re often held to the standard women are held to in life. You must be perfect. You must hide your strength. You must shape-shift or placate.”
With these words, the Deadpool & Wolverine actor could have easily been talking about Lively, who has defied expectations by remaining strong and steadfast in her legal pursuit against Baldoni and his smear campaign against the actress. Baldoni also named Reynolds in his $250 million suit against the New York Times for defamation, claiming Reynolds “aggressively berated” him for allegedly body-shaming Lively.
But, of course, Lively isn’t the only woman to endure a metaphorical tarring and feathering for speaking out against sexual harassment and toxic work environments. Fellow actress Kate Beckinsale praised Lively’s bravery and stated that her encounters with Baldoni and his company, Wayfarer Studios, were sadly all too common both in Hollywood and elsewhere.
Reynolds Believes There is “Inherent Sexism in the Business” of Filmmaking
This isn’t the first time Reynolds has been outspoken in his views about women’s societal status, especially in the movie industry. He revealed in an interview with SiriusXM (via Marie Claire Australia) that a significant number of jokes he’s credited with writing in his films actually came from Lively.
“There’s a lot of A++ writing that I’ve done that was actually Blake; Blake would jump in, grab the keyboard and [say] ‘What about this?’ And I’d be like, ‘That’s incredible.’
“She’s helped me so much in ‘Deadpool,’ all kinds of movies that have been big successes… She’s always got a lot of bricks in that wall.”
Related
Baldoni’s attorney recently appeared on ‘The Megyn Kelly Show’ to unveil the latest (purported) evidence.
Reynolds blames “inherent sexism in the business” as the reason Lively has never received proper credit for her contributions to his movies. He states that he would tell directors and producers that Lively, not he, wrote a particular bit, but it was always Reynolds who would receive the credit.
“I will say that a lot of times, ‘She wrote that, Blake wrote that, not me. That was her,'” Reynolds said. “And it’s like, they still, later on, repeat the story as ‘I wrote it.'”
A follow-up to the highly successful Deadpool and Deadpool 2 films starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The third film will be the first in the franchise to be developed under the Marvel Studios banner following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.