Hugh Jackman (left) and Ryan Reynolds
It’s a story worth retelling—about two hugely successful but genuinely nice guys who don’t let success go to their heads.
They may be deadly when they’re in their respective costumes for Marvel, but you won’t find nicer guys than hunky Canadian Ryan Reynolds (“Deadpool”) and beefy Australian Hugh Jackman (“Wolverine”).
Lately, we’ve been enjoying the revival of their playful online banter and faux feud. For the series of silly exchanges in 2018, they made a lot of people snicker, cackle and snortle, especially after Ryan began trolling Hugh by creating a fake “political” ad questioning the award-baiting reviews that his portrayal of disgraced US presidential aspirant Gary Hart in Jason Reitman’s “The Front Runner” generated.
“How well do you really know @RealHughJackman?” a voice that sounded like Ryan began. The voice-over then proceeded to claim that Hugh wasn’t really who he said he was. Just somebody from Milwaukee who just spoke with an accent and pretended he was from Down Under.
“Is this the type of amazing actor and nice person we want delivering a preachy, liberal speech this award season?” Ryan continued. “Or maybe there’s a real foreigner from a bordering country who would really love it a lot.” On perfect cue, the ad then flashes a flattering photo of Ryan himself.
To reply, Hugh decided to take what he described as the “high road”—by posting a video of himself cleaning after his dog, who just finished “relieving himself” onto a photo of Ryan in his Deadpool costume!
“Very good, boy,” Hugh commended his canine pal with mock nonchalance. “That’s a good boy.”
Three months later, the two announced a truce on Instagram. And we thought that was the end of the running joke—until last month, when Ryan resumed trolling Hugh again. Who knew this gag had long legs?
To commemorate his 24th wedding anniversary with his wife Deborra-Lee Furness, Hugh posted a loving tribute to his better-half last April 11, calling their long union “the best years of my life” and declaring his love for his wife “with every fiber of my soul.”
But that was exactly the lopsided cue Ryan was just waiting for … to troll Hugh again. Thereafter, Ryan left a hard-to-miss message on Hugh’s wall, seemingly commiserating with Debbie’s marital “misfortune”: “Hang in there, Deb.” Ouch.
These days, Ryan’s wall is flooded with posts that are meant to cheer up front-liners and boost their morale—and it’s inspiring to see another successful actor putting his popularity and influence to good use.
Other than his efforts for the pandemic, what other things does Ryan feel strongly about?
After announcing the new playdate (Dec. 11) for his upcoming comedy “Free Guy,” the actor posted a Total Film magazine cover story for “Free Guy,” which he calls “my all-time favorite film I’ve ever done. Just an absolute fastball of joy.”
The Shawn Levy-helmed production, which also stars Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”), Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”) and Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”), is about a bank teller who discovers that he’s actually a nonplaying character (NPC) inside a brutal video game!Meanwhile, in a one-minute and 23-second video posted last week—and notably “tolerated by Deb Jackman and Blake Lively” (their lucky spouses, natch)—Hugh and Ryan declared another temporary ceasefire on their feud to give way to the All-In Challenge, the latest celebrity-instigated internet initiative to raise money for coronavirus-related charities. They’re calling a one-day truce to raise money selling lemonade and “help fight food insecurity,” explained Hugh. As Ryan stressed, “Because no one deserves to go hungry.” INQ