David Harbour Knew Exactly Who To Turn To (Ryan Reynolds) When ‘Hellboy’ Started Bombing

While riding high from his career-changing performance as Sheriff Jim Hopper in Netflix’s Stranger Things, David Harbour was tapped to star in Hellboy reboot. It was a bold endeavor, considering the huge amount of love for Ron Perlman‘s portrayal of the Dark Horse comic book character under the direction of Guillermo del Toro. As we now know, the 20019 film did not meet fans’ expectations nor critics, and it bombed at the box office.

In a new interview, Harbour has opened up about the Hellboy experience and revealed that he made a bold move by calling Ryan Reynolds for advice out of the blue. The actor had experience navigating a box office “flop” with 2011’s Green Lantern, and Harbour desperately needed to hear that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel.

Via GQ UK:

The day the film was released to theatres, and it became apparent that it was going to bomb, he called Ryan Reynolds. “I know him a little bit. I called him and I was like, Hey man, I just need to know something. You know Green Lantern Huge flop for you. What the f*ck is that like, because I think I’m going to hit that right now. Am I gonna be okay Am I gonna survive this” Reynolds, for his part, was “sweet” about it.

Obviously, Harbour weathered the Hellboy storm. Stranger Things 4 is a massive phenomenon as it continues to crush streaming records for Netflix, and Harbour followed up the Hellboy debacle with a well-received portrayal of Red Guardian for Marvel’s Black Widow. Interestingly, that’s similar to how Reynolds bounced back after Green Lantern. He knocked it out of the park as a Marvel character, and everything’s been smooth sailing ever since.