Mark Ruffalo Recalls Having ‘a Dream’ About How to Punch Ryan Reynolds on Screen

Mark Ruffalo has shared the strange way he came up with the way he wanted to punch Ryan Reynolds on screen.

Reflecting on a scene from the 2022 film, The Adam Project, Ruffalo revealed in an interview with GQ posted via YouTube on Friday, October 17, that he had a “dream” about the way the clash should go down.

In the time-traveling movie, Ruffalo played Louis Reed, the dad of Reynolds’ character Adam Reed. The scene in question featured Louis punching Adam in the face.

“It was written that way and we did a rehearsal and I had a dream that that’s what the punch should look like, and I just did what I did in my dream,” Ruffalo, 57, explained. “And we did it, and they were all laughing, and [director Shawn Levy’s] like, ‘Well, let’s do it again, but I think we have it.’”

The actor added, “That was one of those moments where the spontaneity just — it was right.”

During the interview, Ruffalo was asked how many takes it took to get the punch scene with Reynolds in the can. The actor said he only had to act it out “once.”

In addition to Reynolds, Ruffalo starred along Jennifer Garner, who famously portrayed his love interest in the popular 2004 film, 13 Going on 30.

Speaking to Good Morning America in March 2022, Ruffalo and Garner joked about what it was like playing Reynolds’ parents in the movie.

“He does not make his bed, first of all,” Garner, 53, joked. “We just love that guy. He’s heaven. Ryan Reynolds wore every hat. He produced, he wrote a bunch of this stuff, he killed it every single day…He’s a pure movie star in this movie.”

For his part, Ruffalo also got in on the fun. “He’s amazing,” he said, before joking, “I’m proud of my boy.”

Earlier in the week, Ruffalo got candid about another physical altercation involving a movie costar during an appearance on Woody Harrelson and Ted Danson’s “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast on Tuesday, October 14.

During the podcast appearance, the actor recalled stepping in to save his Now You See Me costar Harrelson from getting into a bar fight.

“We were shooting Now You See Me in New Orleans, completely on the streets. Totally wild,” Ruffalo explained. “Capturing stuff on a long lens, getting dragged into bars during the middle of a scene, like in the middle of Mardi Gras.”

He continued, “We were out one night, and it was a packed place. And a woman came up to him and she said, ‘Oh my God, I love you so much.’ Woody put his hand on her arm, and he said, ‘Oh, thank you. Thank you, darling,’ And this guy comes over and he pushes her outta the way, and he shoves Woody.”

According to Ruffalo “a whole melee broke out” in the bar due to the interaction.

“I grabbed you and I pulled you out,” Ruffalo recalled to Harrelson. “Cause I was like, ‘This could be fun, but it also just could go so disastrously wrong because you and I might be able to handle ourselves, but the rest of the folks we were with … I don’t think so.’”