LOS ANGELES??I sure as hell hope so or we have a problem,? Ryan Reynolds joked when asked if his wife, actress Scarlett Johansson, has wedding rings that match his. Ryan explained their striking wedding bands (two joined together): ?That was the design.?

Like Scarlett, Ryan says only a few words about their romance. With a straight face, he teased his way through most of the questions involving Scarlett, whom he married in a private ceremony in his native Canada last September. In ?The Proposal,? he plays an assistant to Sandra Bullock?s boss-from-hell who proposes to him to avoid deportation to Canada.

He was asked how he proposed to Scarlett and the actor joked his way out of that, too.

What?s seriously on the upswing is Ryan?s career. Fresh from ?The Proposal?s? solid box-office performance, he landed two superhero roles. He stars in a feature as Deadpool, the character he introduced in ?X-Men Origins: Wolverine.? The 32-year-old actor also bagged ?The Green Lantern? role.

Can you talk about Scarlett and how you proposed to her?

Obviously, we?re very much in love and we have a wonderful relationship. I don?t think we?d be married if we weren?t, but revealing the actual proposal story is? I?ll just say it was hard to compress all of that love into one text message (laughter). The romance was there and it flew away in a little electronic love byte, yeah.

What do you love most about Scarlett?

You could fill the Staples Center with all of the adjectives that I would use to describe her. She is a fantastic person inside and out in every way, shape and form.

Are you the type who knows when you meet the right person?

Yeah. If you find the right person, you just know.

Which part of a woman?s body are you attracted to?

I?m really into the occipital bone (laughter). I like the whole package. It would be terrible to see just a bodiless butt floating by (laughter). I really like it all together (laughter).

Did your wedding turn out as you have planned?

I would say, without disclosing too much, that the wedding was pulled off exactly as planned? with privacy, which was of the utmost importance. Not secrecy, but privacy.

How much time did you devote to be in shape for this movie?

This movie is not typically a movie you would physically train for (laughing). But I was getting ready to run the New York City Marathon right after the filming so ... in the mornings, I was going five or 10 miles.

Do you plan to run again in a marathon? What was your time?

No. I literally lost my own body weight in tears (laughter). I have a huge respect for anyone who can do it. My time was three hours and 50 minutes.

How was doing that physical comedy minus clothes with Sandra?
If you hadn?t read the script and you walked on to the set that day, it would have looked like people are just doing expertly lit Cirque du Soleil porn (laughter) which was a little bizarre. It helped so much doing those scenes with my buddy. Sandy and I have known each other for nine years. With anybody else, it would have been deeply humbling but with her it was fantastic. Oddly, I was the one who walked away pregnant (laughter) so it has been a conversation at home for me.

How did you and Sandra first meet?

We met on speed dating trials (laughter). No, Sandra and I met through a mutual friend. One of her best friends is a producer that I had worked on a film with. He went on to run my company with me. We?ve all been buddies for a long time. The first night I really hung out with Sandra involved a nightclub, an enormous amount of dancing and when I looked up at one point, George Michael was dancing with Sandra and I thought this woman knows people (laughter). That?s not bad.

Every time we open the Hollywood trade papers, we see your name announced as being in a new movie?

I?ve got dirty photos of the editors at the trades?

When you moved away to become an actor, how did your family react?

My dad was a cop and my brother is a Mountie (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) so I may as well have told them I was going off to join the Royal Ballet (laughter) when I said I was going to be an actor. But when you have a modicum of success and they kind of start to see that it pays off, then there?s some understanding and acceptance.

Have you had a boss from hell?

Definitely. Ironically enough, they mostly involve children. I worked at a yacht club for years and most of the patrons there were away on boats and they left their kids there. It?s like me as a sort of babysitter. I was in no position to shape the minds of children and these kids were awful. They were the sons and daughters of obscene wealth. I remember threatening a 6-year-old that I was going to stab him with a fork (laughter) so yeah, that was a pretty bad job.

How are you now with kids?

I love kids. I love hanging out with them. I?d be lying if I didn?t have a moment or two wishing I had some of my own right now but yeah, hopefully.

You are 10 years younger than your leading lady. Usually it?s the other way around?

I remind Sandra of that often (laughter). What was most interesting to me was the role reversal. I feel like I?m the leading lady and she?s the leading man.

You also have the roles reversed in real life?what is it like to be a Canadian married to an American?

I?ve [helped myself] to a lot of benefits. That?s one of the big impetuses of getting married in the first place (laughter). I was looking to upgrade to extraordinarily expensive healthcare (laughter). I also wanted a stable Social Security system (laughter).

And the downside of being Canadian?

I apologize a lot (laughter). Sorry.

Where does your humor come from?

Humor is a coping mechanism from certain insecurities.

Why would somebody like you have insecurities?

I was a sensitive kid. I felt like a human antenna; I just felt everything so deeply. I used to look back at that time with sadness but now I think of it as like a gift. It really feeds everything that I do for a living now.

What do you like about your ?Deadpool? character?

There?s no one else like him in the comic book world. He?s completely aware that he?s in a comic book. He?s willing to break the fourth wall and address the audience directly. In my book, he?s absolutely hysterical.

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.