Ryan Reynolds Says He's Regularly Mistaken for Ben Affleck at New York Pizzeria

Ryan Reynolds’ local pizza place thinks he’s Ben Affleck and he’s fine with that. The Red Notice star made the reveal during a recent appearance on the Dear Hank & John podcast.

"They believe I'm Ben Affleck and I've never corrected them," he said about the eatery in New York’s East Village. “Years,” he added. "I feel it would not go over well if I revealed. They're not giving me free pizza based on the fact. I do everything normal like everybody else." 

He continued, “They’ll ask how J.Lo is, and I go ‘great’ and just get my pizza and go off.”

Reynolds, 45, joked that he may be giving the 49-year-old actor a bad rep with the pizza place, saying, “What I think makes it so believable is that I look so mildly put out. ... When I leave, I think they’re like, ‘I don’t think Ben Affleck is amused by us. I gotta be more chipper. I gotta take care of Ben.'”   

During the podcast, the Deadpool star also joked about being confused with another famous Canadian Ryan. Ryan Gosling. The Free Guy star noted that during the years when he would play “fast and loose on Twitter,” a user asked how to clarify the difference between the two actors, and he had a NSFW response.  

“I said, and I would never say this today ... 'Ryan Gosling has blonde hair and Ryan Reynolds is a [beep],'" he said.

Reynold’s also quipped that Gosling’s film, The Notebook, would have been completely different if it starred him.  

“No way, that would have failed horrendously,” he said. “It would have been worse. I promise you. It would have been unwatchable.” 

Reynolds is also setting himself apart from Affleck and Gosling professionally. In October, the father of three revealed that he was taking a sabbatical from acting. Earlier this month, the star shared the reason why.

“The biggest thing for me -- and I know you have kids as well -- I don’t want to miss this time with my kids,” he shared during a conversation with LinkedIn’s Senior News Editor, Jessi Hempel. 

For Reynolds, it’s important for his kids to have a “pretty normal schedule,” and being home helps support that.  

“For many years when my wife, Blake, would shoot a film, I would not shoot a film and I would be with the kids and vice versa. So we would sort of trade off. We never really worked at the same time. But always we were away. So the kids were away too," he shared. "Now that they're in school, they have a somewhat normal schedule. I think it's totally important for their development and I really enjoy being a present dad. I love taking them to school in the morning, I love picking them up. I love that I have the hours in between to focus on the things that I'm really passionate about like MNTN and Maximum Effort. It is a juggling act." 

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