Ryan Reynolds at Global Freight Summit: 'Deadpool changed my life'

With his glasses and spotted blue T-shirt, you would be forgiven for thinking that the man on stage was a holidaymaker in Dubai. But then Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds began to address the crowd at the Global Freight Summit in Dubai’s Expo City on November 19.

His session – titled Playing for the Big Leagues – From The Movie Theatre to Disrupting Business – was moderated by UAE-based Virgin Radio presenter Kris Fade, who was quick to comment about the Deadpool star’s ‘nice’ persona. “You hear people say, ‘Ryan Reynolds, he can't be that nice all the time. And just for a moment backstage where I was chatting to you, I was like, well he is.’”

The session began with Ryan talking about the lessons he has learned from his co-workers, admitting that his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star Hugh Jackman was someone to observe. “When I was younger…[I] really did my best to absorb as much as I could.” Recalling that Jackman was one of the first big movie stars he ever worked with back in 2000, he said: “He was such a gentleman, and he was kind to everybody that he knew every crew member's name. And he really didn't differentiate in a hierarchical way. He just loved people. And I remember that really stayed with me.”

Reynolds went on to talk about the fact that show business can sometimes reward bad behaviour – and that he was lucky that his shot at fame came once he was old enough to handle it. “The first Deadpool movie was what was sort of changed my life. But it happened in my mid 30s. So my frontal lobe had fully developed at that point… I was old enough at that time to be able to enjoy [fame] as well,” he joked.

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