Ryan Reynolds on Detective Pikachu: "I lived it, I breathed it, I became the character"

A new trailer for Detective Pikachu will be released tomorrow and while there may exist some residual skepticism from Pokémon enthusiasts, know this: Ryan Reynolds did not casually step into the shoes of a caffeine-swigging, gruff-yet-adorable yellow detective. A consummate professional, Reynolds took the opportunity to, as he says, “vanish” into the role, even if that involved just a touch of child neglect.

Ahead of the trailer drop, Reynolds tweeted a short video, “Outside the Actors Studio.” In it, he sat with the sort of introspective solemnity that we’ve come to expect from him while revealing some of the ways in which he immersed himself in Pikachu’s world, including ditching his daughters at their school. That may sound a bit much, but he actually has a solid reason for his suddenly irresponsible behavior.

“Detective Pikachu, he doesn’t know who those two little girls are,” Reynolds explains away with a shrug. Well, he does have a point.

Humor aside, the brief parody serves as a clever flag for a trailer that may or may not have garnered as much attention on its own. Roping actress and Reynolds’s wife Blake Lively into the bit was a nice reminder that this film is a family affair, after all.

Detective Pikachu premieres in theaters May 10.