The Ryan Reynolds Movie That Inspired Blake Lively for 'The Shallows'

Blake Lively sat down with Savannah Guthrie on Monday’s Today and discussed her new film, The Shallows. The film was a very demanding one for Lively, and she says she was partially inspired to take up the project because of her husband, Ryan Reynolds.

“He did a film called Buried where he’s in a coffin the entire time,” Lively said, referring to the 2010 thriller starring Reynolds stuck in an underground coffin. “I think that would be harder to do because you have to carry a movie in a box. At least I had all these beautiful settings and sharks that helped me.”

The subject matter in The Shallows is startling. The story involves Lively’s character being stranded in the ocean with a shallow-swimming great white shark lurking. But apparently this isn’t her first time dealing with the fierce ocean creatures.

“I actually had an amazing experience,” Lively said. “I went diving with great white sharks and a shark conservationist. Being in the water amongst them, it suddenly takes away that fear because you see them in movies and they’re villainized, but when you see them in their habitat, you realize they’re not actually hunting you.”

The Shallows opens Friday.

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