Reynolds Mocks Pikachu Prep: Actor shares mock-serious Instagram video

Image credit: Instagram/@vancityreynolds

Ryan Reynolds mostly doesn't take himself too seriously, and his latest Instagram post proves it once again. With a perfectly straight face, he warned fans they were about to witness something deeply emotional, the kind of performance that might leave them reaching for tissues.

What followed was pure Reynolds: a clip of the yellow, coffee-drinking, ketchup-loving Detective Pikachu he voiced years ago.

The dramatic build-up by Ryan Reynolds

The post opened with a series of text overlays that read like a serious actor preparing for the role of a lifetime. “I’m about to share with you my most emotional performance to date,” he wrote. “Now’s your chance to swipe away; this will be devastating. You’ve been warned.” Fans who stayed were treated to the payoff: live-action footage of Detective Pikachu, the character Reynolds brought to life in the 2019 'Pokémon' film.In the caption, he kept the joke going. “I prepped for months. Sheltered myself from the outside world on a diet of ketchup alone. But it was all worth it for this moment.”

Looking back at 'Detective Pikachu'

The film, directed by Rob Letterman, mixed live-action humans with computer-generated Pokémon. Reynolds provided both the voice and the motion-capture performance for the title character, a talking Pikachu who partners with a young man named Tim Goodman, played by Justice Smith.

Together they try to solve the mysterious disappearance of Tim’s father, Harry. The cast also included Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, Suki Waterhouse, Omar Chaparro, Chris Geere and Bill Nighy.

Filming took place across Colorado, England, and Scotland in early 2018.

More on Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds is the Canadian actor who turned sarcasm and self-deprecation into a full-time career. He first became widely known for romantic comedies, then reinvented himself as the foul-mouthed anti-hero 'Deadpool' in two hit films that he also produced.

Beyond the Marvel movies, he has starred in everything from 'The Proposal' and 'Safe House' to 'Free Guy' and 'The Adam Project'.He was the world's second-highest-paid actor according to IANS Live. He is also a busy producer, businessman, and one of the more consistently entertaining celebrity voices on social media, having won two Primetime Emmy Awards and received nominations for two Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe Award.Whether he is selling aviation gin, owning a football club, or pretending to method-act as a ketchup-obsessed Pokémon, Reynolds has a way of making the whole thing feel like a shared joke.