Ryan Reynolds at the TIFF press conference for Buried on Monday.MIKE CASSESE/Reuters
Actor Ryan Reynolds says he'll never complain on a film set again after surviving the gruelling conditions of his taut thriller Buried.
The Canadian star told a news conference at the Toronto International Film Festival that he was left physically and emotionally battered by the 17-day shoot.
Reynolds stars as a U.S. truck driver in Iraq who is kidnapped and buried alive in a wooden coffin. The 94-minute story unfolds in real time as his character frantically tries to figure a way out.
The script required Reynolds to swing through emotional extremes while also serving as the film's lighting designer. The movie's only source of light is what his character uses in the coffin, including a lighter, cellphone and flashlight.
Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes says he initially considered the story impossible to film, but was also instantly drawn to the challenge.
"It was pretty miserable, I've got to say," Reynolds said Monday of the shoot while seated next to Cortes.
"I'll never complain ever again on a film set as long as I live. They strung me up and threw me all over sound stages in New Orleans on Green Lantern and I just kept getting up and saying, 'Give me another,' because it was nothing compared to 17 days in the box with the dark overlord of your oppression over here, standing over you. It was tough."
Cortes says seven different coffins were built for the shoot, each one designed to capture different camera angles and performances.
The film festival runs through Sunday.