You can’t work on chemistry. So said Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges in our sit down with them to talk about their new movie, “R.I.P.D.” The two didn’t discount the need for chemistry in this buddy-cop-with-a-supernatural-angle movie, they just like each other. “Fortunately,” said Bridges, “We hit it off… we dig each other a lot.”
Perhaps the most interesting tidbit to come out of our interview with Bridges and Reynolds is the fact that neither seems to like acting against a green screen and opposite, according to Bridges, “A guy with a bunch of black dots on his face in a leotard.” As for Reynolds, he joked that he approached the scenes as if “These particular monsters are wearing unitards. That’s their choice of outfit and it is frightening.”
“R.I.P.D.” features both Hollywood stars playing deceased police officers who have been sentenced, for one reason or another, to serve time in the “Rest in Peace Department.” There, they help to force unwilling dead people to leave Earth.
Did it trouble them, personally, to be playing these dead characters who haven’t shuffled off this mortal coil? Seemingly not. “I never thought of it” said Bridges and Reynolds followed that up with “There’s a pretty large leap you gotta take early on… suspend that disbelief.” We did not get the opportunity to discuss it in depth, but Brides pointed out that both characters, despite whatever differences as to when and how they ended up at the R.IP.D., are looking for redemption.
That is certainly a very human characteristic and something that doesn’t end alongside one’s life, at least not in the world of “R.I.P.D.”
Also starring Kevin Bacon and Mary-Louise Parker, “R.I.P.D.” opens in theaters on July 19th.