The new sci-fi action film “R.I.P.D.” starring Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges hit theaters this Friday. The Source Magazine was invited to an intimate press conference with the film’s new stars. Check out what they had to say about working on the project!
Jeff Bridges and Ryan Reynolds headline the 3D supernatural action-adventure “R.I.P.D.” as two cops dispatched by the otherworldly Rest In Peace Department to protect and serve the living from an increasingly destructive array of souls who refuse to move peacefully to the other side. Veteran sheriff Roy Pulsifer (Bridges) has spent his career with the legendary police force known as R.I.P.D. tracking monstrous spirits who are cleverly disguised as ordinary people. His mission? To arrest and bring to justice a special brand of criminals trying to escape final judgment by hiding among the unsuspecting on Earth.
Once the wise-cracking Roy is assigned former rising-star detective Nick Walker (Reynolds) as his junior officer, the new partners have to turn grudging respect into top-notch teamwork. When they uncover a plot that could end life as we know it, two of R.I.P.D.’s finest must miraculously restore the cosmic balance…or watch the tunnel to the afterlife begin sending angry souls the very wrong way.
What about the film appealed to you?
BRIDGES: I like bizarre movies, and this one fit the bill. You know, ones that are surprising. I love to see movies where the filmmakers are ahead of you and you don’t know what’s gonna happen, and the premise of this one was so bizarre that I thought, “Oh, yeah. This could be interesting.”
REYNOLDS: I just thought that the world was really cool, seeing these two lawmen who were of completely different eras and modalities, and how they do things, kind of come together and clash, that’s what I thought was kind of cool.
Ryan, you seem like a real gentleman, but you still have to fear something on judgement day, so what do you think the doorkeeper will say to you?
REYNOLDS: I would run around the neighborhood on Halloween throwing firecrackers in peoples’ mailboxes, at their houses, and things like that. We were just these little hell raisers.
Jeff, you’re a writer, photographer, artist, musician and songwriter, with all of this art, is there one you prefer most?
BRIDGES: No, not really. They’re all kind of the same to me in a way. I approach them all in the same way, which is to get out of the way and let the thing come through. They all relate to each other. I remember when I started writing songs, it was early in my career, and I would be studying my script, and all of a sudden, I’d say, ‘ Oh, that would make a good song.’ Then I’d find myself with my guitar in my hand and writing a song and I would get so angry with myself. I’d say, ‘No! You’ve gotta be studying!’ But now I’ve come to find that they’re all interrelated and inform each other. That song will help my acting, my drawing sometimes, and sometimes they put it in the movies.
Ryan, you’re great in “The Croods” and Jeff, you’re working on “The Little Prince”, so how does doing an animated movie compare to a live-action one?
REYNOLDS: Well, a live action movie is work and an animated movie is you showing up in your pajamas once every three months, or in my case, just a splash of baby powder.
BRIDGES: One of the fun things about doing an animated film, it’s all about honing. You just keep perfecting and they never commit to the final product because it’s so expensive until down the line so you work on it for three years.
Both of you mentioned your fathers and upbringing. How have your families influenced you as you’ve grown up and the decisions you make now?
REYNOLDS: I was the youngest of four boys. Five, if you include my Father who might be the youngest. I was less a little brother and more of just a moving target around the house. It was certainly a positive childhood, but you have to have a high tolerance for some immensely disgusting acts with three older brothers. … I remember when I was a kid, I wanted to get an earring. I was 13 years old and my brothers were saying, ‘You’re dead. Dad is gonna turn you into an actual liquid if you do this,’ and I said, ‘I don’t care. I’m getting this earring!’ So I went with my friend Ken and his mom to Sears after school and got an earring. On my way home, I was just a dead man walking. I know I’m gonna get to dinner and my father was gonna take his fork and he’s gonna put it in my jugular, I’m gonna bleed out at the table. And I hear my father mutter something kind of vile and I look up and he’s not looking at me. He’s looking at my three older brothers and each one of them got their ear pierced that day to save my ass, which I just thought was the sweetest thing in the world.
Question: Ryan, what or who do you think are the monsters of this earth in real life today?
REYNOLDS: That’s a great question. Holy sh*t. Wow. You look at who has the most influence and how it’s being used. I can’t help it, but look at some politics and government. I just think we lack the ability to teach our children dialogue at this point. I think if we taught kids conflict/resolution, I hate to be so serious about it, but at a young age about really hearing other people and understanding their perspective, and then sharing your own when it’s appropriate, I think the world would be a totally different place.
BRIDGES: What comes to mind is, you remember Pogo? ‘I have met the enemy. They are us.’ That’s kind of it! It popped into my mind that we’re all Deados, basically. [Laughs]
