Now that Ryan Reynolds has partially taken over the world with the massive success of Deadpool, he can do damn well whatever he wants. One thing that the 39-year-old Canadian actor has a penchant for doing on screen is swapping bodies with other actors. He’s done it a number of times over the course of his career, including in the upcoming action thriller Criminal.
Maybe he has some self-esteem or identity issues, or perhaps, as an actor, he simply enjoys pretending to be other people and likes to up the ante by playing other people playing other people. With Criminal just dropping a trailer the other day, and with the success of Deadpool, we thought, what better time to take a look at the people Ryan Reynolds has swapped bodies with on screen.
Traylor Howard, Two Guys A Girl And A Pizza Place
Ryan Reynolds’ first time swapping bodies with a costar wasn’t on the big screen. Instead, it came in 1999 during an episode of the sitcom Two Guys a Girl and a Pizza Place. During the episode, "Halloween 2: Mind Over Body," his character, the simple-minded Mitch "Berg" Bergen, has his brain traded with Traylor Howard’s Sharon Carter by a mad scientist who lives in the basement of their apartment building. That’s going to happen sometimes, it’s unavoidable.
Jason Bateman, The Change-Up
Who knew that drunkenly peeing into a public fountain could have such life changing effects. Unless you wind up on one of those lists where you have to awkwardly introduce yourselves to your neighbors. But in The Change-Up, it caused Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman to trade bodies and lives, with Bateman’s brow-beaten married family man taking the place of Reynolds’ free-wheeling bachelor friend who has a penchant for naked pregnant women.
James Hong, R.I.P.D.
Ryan Reynolds is a tall, handsome, well-muscled white man. And he’s a 39-year-old Canadian. James Hong is a short, 86-year-old Asian man. Aside from their gender, the two have relatively little in common in a physical capacity, but in 2013’s comic book adaptation R.I.P.D., when Reynolds’ murdered police officer, Nick Walker—now a kind of spectral law enforcement officer—is out and about in public, he looks like James Hong in a floppy hat and a beige jacket wielding a banana. No one would ever suspect.
Ben Kingsley, Self/less
If you’re going to swap bodies with someone, Ben Kingsley isn’t a bad choice. The guy has an Oscar and has had a legendary career, after all. And that’s exactly what happens in 2015’s sci-fi thriller Self/less. Kingsley plays an aging billionaire tycoon who, when diagnosed with cancer, has his mind inserted into the body of Ryan Reynolds. If you’re getting on in years and your own body is breaking down, that’s a hell of an upgrade. Things take a turn, however, when Kingsley’s mind starts seeing Reynolds’ memories.
Kevin Costner, Criminal
Kevin Costner is also not a bad persona for an actor to take over. Sure, his star had dimmed some in recent years, but like Ben Kingsley, he, too, has some awards hardware and was once one of the biggest celebs in the world. In the new suspense thriller Criminal, Ryan Reynolds plays a dead CIA agent whose mind, memories, and skills are implanted into the body of a sociopathic criminal and death row inmate (Costner) in a last-ditch attempt to stop a nefarious plot that will kill tons of people. There’s also an insane cast with Gary Oldman, Gal Gadot, Tommy Lee Jones, Alice Eve, and Michael Pitt, maybe Reynolds can occupy one of them before the day is done.
