Matthew Lawrence is stirring the Hollywood nostalgia pot with a surprising claim about a “young” Ryan Reynolds.
During an episode of his Brotherly Love Podcast, the Boy Meets World alum reflected on his experience filming the 2000 sci-fi comedy Boltneck alongside Reynolds.
According to Lawrence, the now-megastar was a bit of a wildcard on set, frequently butting heads with producers and the director over creative differences.
“He’d walk out — just kind of really wanted to do his thing and the producers would get really upset,” Lawrence recalled.
Apparently, the production team had a very specific vision for the film—one that didn’t include what they saw as an over-the-top performance from Reynolds.
“They even told him, ‘Ryan, this is a bad Jim Carrey impersonation. This is not what we hired you to do. You can’t impersonate somebody, you gotta do your own thing,’” Lawrence said.
Naturally, Reynolds wasn’t thrilled with the critique. “He got upset” over the feedback, Lawrence continued, and firmly stood his ground, allegedly telling them, “I’m doing my thing.”
In Boltneck, Lawrence played Frank Stein, a science nerd who revives Reynolds’ character after a fatal run-in with bullies. According to Lawrence, the filmmakers aimed for a dark, Donnie Darko-style sci-fi thriller, but Reynolds had a different approach.
“There was this major pull between one of the lead actors … so that is what my experience with Ryan Reynolds was,” Lawrence said. “He obviously matured as a human being.”
The Mrs. Doubtfire star also claimed to have witnessed a tense meeting between Reynolds and the film’s director, noting that the crew, fresh off an Oscar nomination, wasn’t particularly amused by the actor’s antics.
“This crew, I think, had just been nominated for an Oscar, so they were kind of a big deal at that moment. Talk about frustrations on set with actors,” Lawrence said.
IMDb lists Boltneck producers Paul Colichman and Mark R. Harris, who previously worked on Gods and Monsters, the 1999 Academy Award winner for Best Adapted Screenplay.
At the time, Lawrence said, the crew had written off Reynolds entirely.
“So much hope for this guy. He’s going nowhere,” he recalled them saying—something that, in hindsight, is pretty hilarious considering Reynolds’ meteoric rise.
“They blamed that movie not working on him because they said there was this whole conflict,” Lawrence added.
The actor shared this Hollywood flashback while discussing Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni’s ongoing legal battle, in which Reynolds has reportedly been entangled. Baldoni, 41, has filed a lawsuit against Reynolds and Lively for defamation and extortion following allegations made in a California Civil Rights Department complaint.
Reynolds may be one of Hollywood’s most bankable stars today, but according to Lawrence, the early 2000s were a bit of a different story.
