Ryan Reynolds says playing Deadpool helped him deal with his father's death

Ryan Reynolds has opened up about his father's passing away in October 2015 after an extended battle with Parkinson's disease. He revealed that playing a superhero in his latest film Deadpool helped him overcome the loss.

In an interview with Men's Heath magazine for their March issue, the 39-year-old actor said: "I understand the idea of filtering pain through a prism of comedy. I think this character does that quite well. He obviously takes it too far. He wakes up in the morning exclusively to annoy everyone around him. But for your average civilian like me, I think there's something really relatable about that idea, that there's something to be learned by taking life a little less seriously."

Reynolds attributes humour to making the last days with his father enjoyable. "In my dad's dying moments, we were making him laugh. We were all in there together, me and my brothers, just joking with him. And of course we end up busting each other's chops. I recommended that the doctor raise dad's dose of Dilaudid in order to make my other brother more tolerable," he recollected.

Similar to his onscreen character who combats negative events with comedy, the Green Lantern actor believes that laughter can work as an aid in dark moments and "even help you crawl your way back out".

"It wasn't a bad way to go. If I could have the same death as my father, I would do it right now," he said.

Reynolds and wife Blake Lively welcomed their first child, a daughter, last year. They named her James after his father.

Looking back at the lessons he learned from his own father, the actor said: "I learned discipline from my father. Not in terms of corporal punishment but being determined in whatever you do."

"I never did stuff like that back in my 20s but I'm that guy now," he said. "I'm the guy doing calisthenics. I'm doing jumping jacks and deep knee bends. I work out like a British person."