“YOU WOULDN'T HAVE TO BEND MY ARM TO GO TO INDIA FOR A PROMOTIONAL TOUR” - RYAN REYNOLDS, ACTOR

ACTOR RYAN REYNOLDS ON HIS MOST RECENT NETFLIX OUTING, RED NOTICE, PANDEMIC ANXIETY AND HIS AFFINITY FOR BUTTER CHICKEN AND NAAN.

- SUHANI SINGH

Hollywood has thrived on the disaster genre. A hero, often white, overcomes gargantuan odds to save the world from eternal doom. In the Covid-19 pandemic though, the industry faced a disaster of epic, unprecedented proportions. A one-man army was not enough to tackle it. The film industry the world over has had to adapt and innovate to survive. Professionals embraced streaming platforms as a viable medium to share their art. In 2021 alone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Zendaya, Jake Gyllenhaal have all done a Netflix film. Ryan Reynolds jumped on to the streaming bandwagon back in 2019 with 6 Underground (also on Netflix). More recently, the actor appeared on the SVOD (special videoon-demand) service again alongside Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot in the heist thriller, Red Notice. If you want a sense of how big the streaming revolution is, it can’t get any bigger than Netflix bringing The Rock, Deadpool and Wonder Woman together.

For Reynolds, who is also a writer and a producer, there is no conflict between the big screen and streaming platforms anymore. “Audiences have a fidelity to the stories they want to see, not necessarily the venue in which they see it,” he says. “There is something spectacular about the in-theatre experience but there’s also something wonderful about being able to enjoy a marquee movie or blockbuster film in your living room.”

THE SHOW MUST GO ON