like a parkour dude — he could do all kinds
f stuff.
Reynolds: It’s just crazy. This guy’s got springs
on him.
Jackson: But Kiante [Elam] is my personal stunt
guy. He’s from a stunt family. His dad was one
of the first black stuntmen in Hollywood. His
brothers are all stuntmen. He grew up jumping
off roofs and crashing cars and he is very good
at it. And he looks a lot like me physically, which
is great. I can’t stand up and turn a flip.How about you, Ryan?
Reynolds: By the time I’ve put my pants on, I’ve
really done what I’ve set out to do for the day.
These days, cameras are so sharp and they’re so
close. It’s not like the old days with a wide shot
of an explosion and this guy — wearing the same
outfit even though he is 60kg heavier — flying
out of frame. It’s a different deal.
Jackson: Or if it’s a girl, it’s a guy with a wig on:
“Damn, she’s buff!”
Reynolds: I’ve had some bad injuries doing
stunts. [On Safe House] I broke a couple of
vertebrae in my neck. It was a bad situation.
I remember the doctor sitting in the office — it
was about the seventh time I had been there that
year — and he writes on a prescription pad, rips
off the note and it reads ‘Stuntman’. Point taken.
So now I use four different guys that come
with me. Thankfully nothing scary happened
on this one.Do either of you employ bodyguards?
Reynolds: [To Jackson] You don’t need
a bodyguard because people have seen your
movies. Look, we’re two pretty big guys. I would
feel ashamed if I had a bodyguard.
Jackson: Aggression changes from place to place.
In France people camp outside your hotel and
chant your name. In Germany, you wish you had
a bodyguard because Germans are aggressive
whenever they want their shit signed. But most
times, I’m pretty okay.
Reynolds: The only time I ever have security is
when I go to Comic-Con, because you need guys
to help get you 100 metres.Jackson: The first time
that I went to
Johannesburg I was
riding around in
a bullet-proof car and
all that kind of shit.
Five guys met me at the airport. One guy was like
[in a South African accent], “Mike will always be
on your right because he draws from his right.
I am left-handed. I will always be to your left. If
we try and take you down, let us take you down.Do. Not. Resist.” I was like, “What the fuck? I’m
here to do press, man!”
Reynolds: South Africa, all bets are off man.
Jackson: That was right after apartheid was over.
Johannesburg was like the Wild West.
Carjackings. I don’t know if it was a myth or not,
but I heard they had cars where if someone
approached, you could step on a button and
a flamethrower would shoot out.
Reynolds: [To Jackson] I would have been a great
bodyguard for you in Johannesburg. I would
have taken a bullet for you. Okay, not a bullet.
I would have taken an orange for you.This movie zips around Europe like National
Lampoon’s Clark Griswold. What did you learn?
Jackson: Antwerp has a dope-ass cathedral.
It’s beautiful. It’s like an art museum. I’ve got
all these pictures on my phone. I went to all the
little streets with the restaurants on it. They
had a Texas all-you-can-eat BBQ restaurant.
Literally, they walk around with a huge pile of
ribs on each table and after you’ve finished with
your bowl of bones, you can just restack your
plate. It was insane.
Reynolds: Jesus. They know how to do
it in Belgium.Sam, when you’re in Europe, do people ask you
about the metric system à laPulp Fiction?
Jackson: People say, “Do you know what they
call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?”
And I say, “No, what?”, because that’s what I
say in the movie. Most people go, “Oh, come on,
man!” Only six or seven people have realised
I’m doing the line from the movie and say,
“Royale with cheese.” Then I’ll go, “Oh, Royale
with cheese.” And they are so happy because
we’ve actually done the actual dialogue from
the movie.Finally, given you both play Marvel characters,
how many of your conversations with people start
with, “Who would win in a fight between...”?
Reynolds: A lot. It’s great to think that you have
these conversations when you are in seventh
grade and you are still having them when you are
a grown-ass adult. I write [the Deadpool] movies,
so a lot of my day is spent having nerdy
conversations like that. I love it.
Jackson: I agree. It’s like you can tell which kids
read the comic books and which kids didn’t.Okay, then, we can’t resist... Who would win in
a fight between Deadpool and Nick Fury?
Reynolds: Who would win in a fight? Deadpool
regenerates, man.
Jackson: I would just say, “Come over here,
I want you to fight this green guy and see how
you do with that.” Or maybe send him to Tony
Stark’s house and slap him around a bit.
Reynolds: Like a motherfucker. And we’ve come
full circle.THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD IS IN CINEMAS FROM
ALAMY 31 AUGUST
Clockwise from left:
Samuel L. Jackson
as Nick Fury;
Ryan Reynolds as
Deadpool; Reynolds in
Safe House; Jackson in
Jackie Brown; Theo the
snail from CG animation
Turbo, voiced by
Reynolds and also
featuring Jackson as
Whiplash; Jackson
in Ragtime and in
True Romance.