Ryan Reynolds pays touching tribute to Eric Gilliland

Ryan Reynolds paid tribute to TV writer and producer Eric Gilliland who died aged 62 on September 1st.

THE Deadpool & Wolverine The actor’s heartfelt tribute took center stage during his acceptance speech for a screenplay honor at the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards.

“I want to dedicate this extraordinary honor to a writer, one of my closest friends, Mr. Eric Gilliland,” Reynolds said on stage in Los Angeles. “I wouldn’t be standing here if it wasn’t for that man,” the actor said Thursday.

For those who don’t know, Gilliland died of complications from cancer at the age of 62 on September 1st.

During his speech, Reynolds, 48, recalled meeting the “magical” Gilliland nearly three decades ago “when I was a skinny, desperately hungry 19-year-old kid.”

“I didn’t really know who I was yet. I was trying on personalities like they were shirts, and Eric liked me, and that made me like me,” she continued as she accepted her award Variety.

Reynolds credited Gilliland with introducing him to “greats” like Jack Benny and Buster Keaton and inviting him “into writers’ circles that no high school dropout had any business being invited to.”

The father-of-four joked his late friend “had a lot of shortcomings” and “wasn’t great at housekeeping, wasn’t great at buying new shoes… He hung in there until his feet looked somehow wrapped in a First World Fox War”.

“But Eric’s primary virtue was that he was kind and that he showed up for people. He showed up for everybody and didn’t care if you were a waiter or a bouncer or a movie star, and I hated that,” Reynolds continued. .

Reynolds went on to explain how Gilliland “made a way” of being around him when the actor was at his “most impressive” and “varying degrees of success.”

“I tried to live up to that impossible standard that Eric set. He was as good at being extremely funny as he was at being a friend and mentor.”

Gilliland was a television writer best known for his work Roseanne. He eventually became the executive producer of the series and later, a consulting producer for series such as That 70s show and The Connors.

In a closing note, Reynolds also joked that Gilliland “would probably be very upset to hear that we had a memorial service for him last week in New York with 300 of his best friends, paid for out of the proceeds of his estate.” .

“His memorial service was a testament to a man who lived life almost as beautifully as any life could be lived,” he told the audience. “And it really reminded me of what I love most about this business, which is that we all work together. We have to create things together.”

Reynolds noted how Gilliland has “inspired so many people to become the best version of themselves,” concluding: “So if you come across a skinny, desperately hungry 19-year-old who recently threw himself into a rose bush outside your office. , give that kid a break.”