Ryan Reynolds helped get Harold & Kumar greenlit because he loved Kal Penn

Move over, Neil Patrick Harris, the actual most important cameo in Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle was Ryan Reynolds. In a new oral history for the 20th anniversary of the film, producers told Rolling Stone that distributor New Line Cinema required some bigger name celebs to make the small, diverse stoner comedy commercially viable. Together, the producers rounded up Anthony Anderson and Jamie Kennedy, but it was star Kal Penn who recruited Reynolds after they appeared together in Van Wilder. 

“Ryan was incredibly supportive during the audition process for Van Wilder. In the final callback, it was between me and a white dude in brownface for the part of an Indian exchange student. He said to me, ‘How do you feel about improv?’ So we improvised the scene, and he was obviously rooting for me to get the job. The entire production was awesome,” Penn recalled. “He told me once in passing, ‘When you get your first lead, let me know and I’ll play the supporting guy.’ When Harold & Kumar happened and we were talking about cameos, I reached out to Ryan and he was immediately like, ‘Yes, absolutely.’”

As it came to pass, irreverent cameo-filled R-rated comedies became Reynolds’ bread and butter. Much as cynics and critics may dunk on those cameo parades, Reynolds has clearly developed a very friendly reputation in Hollywood because so many stars are willing to show up for his movies. Part of that is clearly because he’s willing to return the favor and show up for his friends, as in the case with Harold & Kumar. And this cameo was particularly important, according to producer Nathan Kahane. “I remember calling Ryan’s agent and was like, ‘Is this happening?’ He told me Ryan was totally supportive because Ryan loves Kal,” Kahane said. “We paid him $10,000, and he was a beautiful man of his word. Ryan joining that cast got the movie greenlit.” Everybody say thank you Ryan Reynolds!