Mark Ruffalo says one of his most memorable on-screen moments with Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project came together in an unexpected way: he dreamed the exact move the night before filming, then brought it straight to set.
Ruffalo says the “right” take came from a dream
In a GQ video interview, Ruffalo explained that after a rehearsal, he had a dream about how the choreographed beat should look. When it came time to shoot, he simply copied what he’d seen in his dream—and the set reaction told him it worked.
Entertainment Weekly’s recap notes that the crew laughed, and director Shawn Levy suggested another take—but also implied they already had what they needed. Ruffalo later summed up the moment as pure spontaneity: “it was right.”
Where the scene fits in The Adam Project
The moment happens in Netflix’s 2022 sci-fi adventure The Adam Project, directed by Shawn Levy, starring Ryan Reynolds and Mark Ruffalo alongside Walker Scobell, Jennifer Garner, and Zoë Saldaña.
EW describes the scene as a quick, comedic escalation tied to the film’s time-travel rules and a tense-but-funny father/son dynamic—then Ruffalo’s character responds with an unexpectedly stylized move.
“Once” and done
Ruffalo also said the production didn’t require a long series of repeats to land the beat—he answered “Once” when asked how many times it took to get it right.
Ruffalo and Shawn Levy have worked together before
In the same stretch of coverage, Ruffalo also looked back on collaborating with Levy on Date Night (2010), recalling that Steve Carell was surprised he took a smaller role—something Ruffalo framed as part of enjoying the work, not just the size of the part.
