Ryan Reynolds says he doesn’t want to be ‘absentee’ father as he prioritizes family over ‘Deadpool 4’

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Ryan Reynolds revealed he might step back from his iconic Deadpool role to focus on his family.

In a candid conversation with Andrew Garfield for Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Reynolds opened up about the challenges of balancing a demanding career and fatherhood.

Ryan Reynolds says his family takes priority over 'Deadpool 4'

Speaking about how the 'Deadpool' franchise takes over his life during production, Ryan Reynolds said, “My feeling is that [Deadpool] works very well in two ways: scarcity and surprise."

"You can't take your hand off the stick all the way through development, through postproduction into marketing and promo, and then you kind of [stop]," he shared.

Reynolds, who shares four children with his wife Blake Lively, daughters James, nine, Inez, seven, Betty, four, and son Olin, born in February 2023, emphasized that his family takes priority.

“I don’t ever want to be an absentee, and I don’t ever want to miss stuff. I, like, kind of die inside when I see their face, and they have a competition or a sports thing, and I missed it,” he added.

Taylor Swift’s sweet shout-out for Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds also spoke about his friendship with Taylor Swift, who made headlines earlier this year by calling him the "sperm donor" for her godchildren in an Instagram post referencing 'Deadpool & Wolverine'.

"I'm going to need that on my gravestone, actually," Reynolds joked in a separate interview with Deadline.

He confirmed Swift is godmother to his daughters, calling her “very sweet” and humorously noting, "You could probably quantify a box office based on Taylor just doing something like that."

Ryan Reynolds reflects on his relationship with his late father

During the conversation with Andrew Garfield, Ryan Reynolds also reflected on his upbringing and his complex relationship with his late father, James Chester Reynolds, who passed away in 2015 after battling Parkinson’s disease.

“My relationship with my father was very complicated and difficult,” Reynolds shared.

“I come from a middle-class, blue-collar home, and my dad was of that generation where he was Clint Eastwood. Less is more. Simple grunts [were] how he communicated,” he said.

The 48-year-old actor also revealed he has spent the past few years re-examining the stories he told himself about his father.

“I didn’t know myself until I was probably 40-ish," he said.

"I ask that question often: ‘Was my dad as challenging as I like to think? Or am I romanticizing that to pave over all these other things?’” he added, according to US Weekly.