Ryan Reynolds opens up in the new GQ Magazine

Ryan Reynolds, one of the hottest actors in Hollywood right now, opens up with GQ Magazine about his new movie that required him to be buried alive, about the movie that made him famous (Van Wilder) and being married to Scarlett Johansson. On GQ’s website, you’ll find more of the article, where he talks about having a sick father, a near-death skydiving accident, and buying a home in Louisiana. Here are some highlights from the interview:

On his first big movie, Van Wilder:

At best, this was a mixed blessing. “It made me the party guy,” he says. “I would walk into a bar and people would start lining up the shots. You could sum up my career at that point as a free shot at a bar.” This was neither who he was nor who he wanted to be. “I know it affected me more than I’m revealing, because I know that I went years without even saying the words ‘Van Wilder.’ Even now, when I say it, it’s a bit of a big moment for me.”

On his famous abs:

“It was a strange sort of sleight-of-hand trick I learned—I could do it again if I needed to and get there faster if I needed to. I have a discipline that has served me very well in my career and in my personal life,” he says, “and that’s gotten stronger as I’ve gotten older. I’ve always felt if I don’t just have a natural knack for it, I will just outdiscipline the competition if I have to—work harder than anybody else.”

How did things change once he married Scarlett Johansson?

“Things change when you get married in general. But in terms of being a couple that’s in a public situation and speculated about and all that nonsense, it’s changed a little bit. I’m a little more guarded, I think. I’m a little bit more wary of having my relationship turning into a soap opera. I’ve just unilaterally not addressed it. That’s kind of been the fail-safe for me.”

About keeping his personal life private:

“I think it’s embellished upon. It hasn’t been some covert operation. I mean, certainly the wedding was, but I believe anyone should have the right to have a private wedding ceremony. I think if anything’s sacred it should be that. But for the most part—I can only speak for me, as one-half of that relationship—I choose to remain as private as possible without being secretive.”