Chan passed away earlier this week at 56, leaving Marvel’s creatives shocked and mourning.
Ryan Reynolds took to social media last night to share a heartfelt eulogy for Ray Chan, the Marvel Studios production designer who helped bring Deadpool & Wolverine to life. Reynolds praised Chan both as a friend and collaborator, saying that he was glad that their last conversation had been an earnest one, rather than the “good-natured s–t” they usually gave each other. The star praised Chan as an important creative force on the movie who “built entire worlds from scratch.”
Marvel Studios announced Chan’s death on Wednesday, calling Chan “an incredible production designer who helped imagine and design the Marvel Cinematic Universe” and “a wonderful friend and colleague who will be dearly missed by everyone who had the privilege of working with him.” Chan was 56 years old.
You can see Reynolds’s full post below.
Words are pretty inadequate in comparison to this loss.
There’s an incomparable reservoir of skill, tender grit and talent no longer with us. As Production Designer, he was as important a creative force on Deadpool & Wolverine as the writers, director and stars.
I don’t pretend to know every chapter of Ray’s heart, but I know it’s unusual to encounter someone with that level of artistry, who simultaneously moved through the world with such an indelible humanity.
He built entire worlds from scratch – and did so in the most collaborative and inclusive ways. Ray was peerless. And just awesome to be around. He’ll be missed by everyone – but especially, by the people inhabiting his most important world: his family.
The last time I saw Ray was exactly two weeks ago. One of last things I said to him was that he makes magic and there’s nobody on earth like him. Generally, he and I gave each other a lot of good natured shit. So… of all the final things you could say to someone you adore, that’s a little scrap of consolation I’ll hang onto forever.
In addition to Deadpool & Wolverine, Chan worked on more than half a dozen Marvel projects, including Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War, and The Falcon & the Winter Soldier. Outside of Marvel, Chan was known for his work on AVP: Alien vs. Predator, National Treasure, and Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Chan was nominated for the Art Directors Guild Award five times and won twice — in 2015 for Guardians of the Galaxy and then again in 2020 for Avengers: Endgame.
“Each film that Marvel [puts out], it’s always a very involved process, for myself and Charlie [Wood, production designer], each one is unique and a challenge,” Chan said in a 2018 interview with The Credits. “Guardians of the Galaxy is different to Ultron, which is different to Dr. Strange. [Infinity War] was probably the biggest challenge. It comes off as a collaboration, working with a great studio like Marvel. There are great scriptwriters, directors, they bring a lot to the table. They’d come up with ideas, first, and we’d bounce of that.”
Chan is survived by his wife, Lindsay, and his children, Caspar and Sebastian. Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine, will be in theaters in July.
