Matthew Lawrence: Ryan Reynolds Had Issues With Film Crew

Actor Matthew Lawrence said his former co-star Ryan Reynolds was difficult to work with in the early days of his career.

Speaking on his "Brotherly Love Podcast," Lawrence alleged that during the production of the 1998 film "Boltneck," Reynolds clashed with producers and the director over creative differences. 

"He'd walk out — just kind of wanted to do his thing and the producers would get really upset," Lawrence, 45, claimed in the episode, according to Page Six. "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 recalled how Reynolds, 48, "got upset" over the producers' criticism and told them, "I'm doing my thing."

In "Boltneck," Lawrence portrayed Frank Stein, a "science nerd" who brings Reynolds' character back to life after he's killed by bullies. Lawrence said that while the producers envisioned the film as a sci-fi thriller similar to "Donnie Darko," Reynolds was attempting to inject his own flair into the script, likening it to his future "Deadpool" persona.

"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."

Lawrence also revealed that he was "privy to a meeting between the director" and Reynolds, noting that the crew had recently received an Oscar nomination, "so they were kind of a big deal at that moment. Talk about frustrations on set with actors."

The "Brotherly Love" star further claimed the crew had written off Reynolds because of his alleged behavior.

"We had so much hope for this guy. He's going nowhere," he recalled them saying.

"They blamed that movie not working on him because they said there was this whole conflict," Lawrence added. 

Lawrence also found himself in a challenging onset situation in the early days of his career. Last week, he opened up about his only on-set trouble which came after Gabrielle Union allegedly reported him for declining to rehearse lines together during their 1999 TV movie "H-E Double Hockey Sticks."

"There was this one moment where — and, again, I'm oblivious, I had no idea — and [Gabrielle] wanted to rehearse. And I was like, 'No, I'm good,'” Lawrence said, according to Entertainment Weekly. "And she got angry and went and reported me to the director and the studio. The only time in my entire career, because usually I'm, like, the advocate, and I'm fighting for kids and, like, you know, women's rights. This is the only time in my life when I was called into the office for something I did on set. And I had no clue."

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