This holiday season, writer-actor-producer Ryan Reynolds is setting aside his duel pistols for a pair of tap dancing shoes in Apple TV+’s upcoming Christmas musical Spirited. Starring Reynolds, Will Ferrell, and Octavia Spencer, Spirited is an all-new adaptation that takes Charles Dickens’ classic novel A Christmas Carol to the glittering streets of Manhattan. Rather than the familiar Ebenezer Scrooge, Spirited tells the fantastical tale of the miserly Clint Briggs (Reynolds) and the long night’s journey through his past, present, and “yet-to-come,” to discover the consequences of his callousness. In order to avoid a dismal fate, Clint must make serious changes before it’s too late.

In his interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Reynolds delights in achieving his adult-life goal of working with Ferrell and discusses the merits of gun-slinging fight sequences versus learning ripple moves in tap dancing. He also discusses the likelihood of doing more musicals, belting ballads, partnering with Netflix for Dragon’s Lair, and the call with Hugh Jackman that launched Wolverine’s MCU debut. For more on Spirited, check out Collider's review by Ross Bonaime.

COLLIDER: I’m going to start with congrats on the movie. I did not know if you had it in you, and you do.

RYAN REYNOLDS: Oh, thank you. That’s very kind of you, very generous. I appreciate that.

Also good afternoon, sir. (This is a reference to something in Spirited)

REYNOLDS: Wow. I don’t know where rage like that comes from, Steve.

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Image via Apple TV+

People will get that once they’ve seen the movie.

REYNOLDS: The goddamn internet.

Making this, did you get a taste for doing more singing and dancing, or was this a one-time-only deal?

REYNOLDS: I would say this is a one-time-only deal, but it was a thrill, you know? I think as I'm getting older, I like taking big swings at things. I mean, I have a real commitment, despite the fact that I'm in the middle of getting ready to do another Deadpool movie, I think that both myself and Maximum Effort have a real commitment to taking big swings at original ideas and concepts, and not the least of which being Free Guy and Adam Project, and several others. This was no different. I love that I got to be on a dance floor like this, forgive the pun. But it was pretty amazing. I spent my whole, genuinely my entire adult life, wanting to work with Will Ferrell. I didn't even want to work with Will Ferrell, just hang out with Will Ferrell.

Sure.

REYNOLDS: And I got to do both. I got to kill two birds with one stone here. So that for me was something I'll never forget. I think I would be safe to say that Will is now a lifelong friend and somebody that I'm so lucky and privileged that I get to play with.

I have been a fan of Will Ferrell since SNL. I love him. There's so many sketches and so many performances.

REYNOLDS: Yeah. You'd be hard-pressed to find somebody whose contributed more to the comedic landscape and lexicon than Will Ferrell. I mean, he's a guy that, we say and do so many things these days without even realizing you could attribute that to Will, or something Will said in a movie. We even said it as like, things that he's done are like social lubricants to get through an awkward moment, or something. So it's just like, I love what he's contributed to this medium, and art form, and he's one of a kind.

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Image via Apple TV+

You've never done a film like this with singing and dancing. At any point during rehearsals were you like, "What did I get myself into and why did I say yes?"

REYNOLDS: There is no point throughout this entire process that I haven't questioned that idea. I thought like, "God, there must have been a simpler way to hang out with Will." There must be something easier than 3 and a half months of tap dancing rehearsals, and choreography meetings, and rehearsals, and singing lessons, and all kinds of stuff. So it was pretty wild. I got to say, it was a real tightrope walk, but the good thing, at least I feel, is that I had this guy with me, Will. We were together every step of the way. We were both in the same boat, and that made it feel a lot less lonely and daunting. We got to kind of link arms and go down this next ripple tap dancing number with each other.

I love the elevator scene where Will cannot figure out who Tiny Tim is. And one of the reasons I loved it is because I'm looking at the extras' faces. There are seven extras, and they have to keep a straight face with the two of you probably riffing and improvising at least a little bit in that scene. So how many takes did it take to do that?

REYNOLDS: If I'm not mistaken, that's only one take because we only did it once. It was just a gag, we were just goofing around at the end of the day. Those are those things that you're like, "Oh, well suddenly that's in the movie." You know? You never know. I mean, I'm doing this job for 33 years, and the one thing I'm certain of is that I don't know anything.

Sure.

REYNOLDS: That's why you just never know. I love notes as I've gotten older. I love it when somebody doesn't like a take because then I'm forced to do it completely differently, and step out of this preconceived idea that I have about what it is and how it's supposed to go. Those are oftentimes the things that make it inside the movies.

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Image via Apple TV+

Well one of the things is, I know you like to improvise and find things in the moment, and you just mentioned it with that scene in the elevator. But with a musical, everything is so choreographed and figured out before you step on set. What is the balance like for you in terms of allowing that creative freedom in the moment, versus how much is already figured out?

REYNOLDS: You're right to point that out, that's a completely different animal. I mean, I can look at a fight sequence that is long or short, and I can learn it in seconds. And I'm not trying to brag some kind of jackass, I've just done it for 30 years. So it's in my bones, in my DNA. I understand I can make a mistake and cover it up, or I can make a mistake and use it, or I can change it and pivot, and try something different and not ruin the shot. Choreography and dancing and singing, I'm not good enough to do any of that. So I really have to stick to the moves, beat for beat, and try to do everything exactly as prescribed by Chloe Arnold, our choreographer, or Benj [Pasek] and Justin [Paul], our musical savants that we're working with - our singing savants rather.

So yeah, it's a very different thing, and kind of terrifying. There's no room for error because I'm not good enough to cover something up if I make a mistake. So I just stop, and just wallow in failure, and then I'm so grateful that this is a movie and not a live production and I can just go try it 40 more times until we get it right.

Benj Pasek & Justin Paul are what we call talented.

REYNOLDS: Yes.

There are some really good songs in this. Did you have a favorite that you kept singing when you left set? One that's just stuck with you?

REYNOLDS: Oh man. I mean, “Do a Little Good” kind of always stuck with me because it's a little bit more of a ballad, and that's a little bit more in my soft, middle-aged-dad wheelhouse. So that I loved, I loved “Do a Little Good.” And then I really loved a lot of the songs that Will sang solo. Mostly because I wasn't as exposed to them, as I was my own stuff. So they were still surprising, and kind of fun to hear him, and his interpretation of them.

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Before I run out of time with you, I'm sure everyone's asking about a certain movie, but I want to ask about something else. I've been looking forward to a Dragon's Lair movie for forever, and I know you are involved. What can you say about it?

REYNOLDS: I can say that Netflix has approached Dragon's Lair in a spirit of partnership that I've never really seen before. They're taking such a swing with it. How we're approaching it, and attacking it, and what we're doing with it, I think will be pretty surprising to a lot of people. In its scope I mean. I’m not sure, but I don't think anyone's ever tried it before quite like this. So I'm curious to see how it'll go. It really intersects in a unique way with technology that I've never been privy to in the entertainment industry. So they're taking some kind of pretty innovative stabs at this particular IP in a way that I'm blown away with, and I'm excited that they're as along for the ride as we are.

I actually think I heard what it is, but I'm not going to say it. But I'll just say that it's only something that could be done on Netflix.

REYNOLDS: Yeah. And it's sort of a living, breathing thing as opposed to just a piece of entertainment you watch. I think that's going to be cool. Maximum Effort, my company, has just been quite literally neck-deep in it for two years now.

Iou know I need to ask you about Deadpool because I'm kind of looking forward to it. I have two questions for you that I hope you can answer. I heard you start filming in April, is that true?

REYNOLDS: I don't know.

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Image Via Ryan Reynolds/Twitter

So you don't have a start date yet?

REYNOLDS: Start dates are negotiable.

Got it. I am stunned, like the rest of the planet, that you got Hugh [Jackman] to come back. Can you talk a little bit about what it was like, those initial conversations with him, and what was it like you mentioning to him, "Hey, do you actually want to come back and do this?"

REYNOLDS: Yeah, I think you're giving me too much credit. I don't believe that I'm responsible for Hugh coming back. I always wanted Hugh to come back. My first meeting with Kevin Feige, when Disney bought Fox years ago, maybe three years ago, or three and a half, four years ago, I'm not sure, was about doing a movie with the two of us, a Deadpool/Wolverine movie. That was not possible at the time, and then Hugh just happened to call at that perfect moment, and express that he'd be interested in coming back and doing this one more time. The contents of that conversation - because I know it's only inevitable that you and Hugh are going to speak at some point soon, I'm sure - I'll let Hugh answer that on his own, but he expressed interest in coming back, and then it was my job to take that to Kevin Feige one more time and sell it.

It's not like adding Hugh Jackman to a movie like this is a hard sell. It's an immediate and emphatic, unqualified yes. It's a lot of moving parts: Fox and X-Men, and all that kind of stuff that Marvel needs to sort through, a lot of red tape in order to make that happen. And they did it. And I'm really grateful that they did it because, for me, working with Hugh is a dream come true, but working with Logan, and having Logan and Wade together in a movie, is beyond any dream I would ever be audacious enough to have. So I'm really, really super fucking excited to do this film.

I have to wrap with you. I am just going to say I speak for fandom when I say thank you for making the next one and working with Hugh on it. I really can't wait. And congrats on Spirited. I really hope it's a big hit for you guys.

REYNOLDS: Appreciate it. Well, we wouldn't be able to do any of this without that fandom. They're the ones who've got Deadpool made in the first place. So grateful to them. So very excited.

Spirited hits select theaters November 11, and will be streaming on Apple TV+ on November 18.