Simran Joshi
Ryan Reynolds paid an emotional tribute to his late friend and mentor, Eric Gilliland, while accepting a screenwriting honor for Deadpool & Wolverine at the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards in Los Angeles on November 14. The actor, 48, dedicated the award to Gilliland, a celebrated TV writer and producer best known for his work on Roseanne, who passed away in September at the age of 62 due to cancer complications.
Reynolds reflected on their decades-long friendship, describing Gilliland as a guiding force who profoundly influenced his life and career.
Ryan Reynolds Honors Eric Gilliland’s Legacy
At the Hamilton Behind the Camera Awards for recognition of screenwriting for Deadpool & Wolverine, actor and screenwriter Ryan Reynolds gave a heartwarming tribute to the late celebrated TV writer and producer Eric Gilliland, who he specifically looked up to.
Reflecting on their nearly three-decade-long friendship, Reynolds shared: “I want to dedicate this very fine honor to a writer, to one of my closest friends, Mr. Eric Gilliland. I wouldn’t be standing here if not for that man.” Reynolds first met Gilliland as a “scrawny, desperately hungover 19-year-old kid” and credited his friend with shaping his journey.
“I didn’t really know who I was yet,” Reynolds admitted. “I was trying on personalities like they were shirts, and Eric liked me, and that made me like me.” Friendships influenced him beyond words.
Reynolds shared lessons learned and said Gilliland introduced him to the comedic genius of legends such as Jack Benny and Buster Keaton. That and more, he invited Reynolds to join the ranks of his writing groups that he never deemed good enough for himself, since he had barely finished high school.
Humoring Gilliland’s niceness, Reynolds joked, “He showed up for everybody, and didn’t care if you were a waiter or busboy or movie star, and I hated that.” He also recalled, with both humor and reverence, Gilliland’s weaknesses: “He was not great at housekeeping, not great at buying new shoes… He hung in there until his feet looked like they were somehow wrapped in a foxhole from World War I.”
A Model and a Mentor Who Set an “Impossible Standard”
“Gilliland was a man who lived life beautifully, and many of us can try to follow his example.”
According to Reynolds,.
“Eric’s prime virtue was that he was kind and that he showed up for people,” Reynolds said, stressing, “He modeled a way of being for me when I was probably at my most impressionable.” For Reynolds, the quality with which Gilliland balanced being “brilliantly funny” with being an empathetic mentor was forever left. “To varying degrees of success, I have tried to live up to that impossible standard that Eric set,” Reynolds admitted.
Best known for his work on Roseanne, That ’70s Show, and The Connors, Gilliland left behind a legacy that went well beyond his work. In a New York City memorial to where 300 of Gilliland’s closest friends attended, Reynolds discussed the beauty of collaboration in his industry: “His memorial was a testament to a man who lived life just about as beautifully as any life could possibly be lived.”
Concluding his tribute, Reynolds implored others to follow Gilliland’s example, urging them to give some slack to a scrappy, desperately hungover 19-year-old who recently vomited all over the rose bush outside your office.
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