Hugh Jackman shares hilarious video urging the academy not to nominate Ryan Reynolds for 'Spirited' song
We're only four days into 2023, and the flame war between besties Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman is back on.
At issue is the fact that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has put on its 2023 Oscars best song short list "Good Afternoon", a song from Reynolds and Will Ferrell's Christmas musical "Spirited," which is streaming on Apple TV+ -- something with which Jackman took issue in a video posted to his official Instagram account on Wednesday.
"I really, really wanted to send out a positive message at the beginning of the year, but recent events have made that impossible," Jackman said.
"Don't get me wrong, I loved 'Spirited'. It's a great movie ... I love Will, I love Octavia [Spencer] ... the song 'Good Afternoon', I laughed the entire way through, it is absolutely brilliant," he continued. "However, I just heard the Academy have short-listed 'Good Afternoon' [for the 2023 Oscars]."
According to Jackman, Reynolds receiving a nomination in the Oscars best song category "would make the next year of my life insufferable."
"I mean, I have to spend a year with him shooting Wolverine and Deadpool ["Deadpool 3"]. And trust me, it would be impossible. It would be a problem," he said.
Jackman closed by recapping everything he liked about "Spirited," before pleading once again with the academy. "Please, please, from the bottom of my heart, do not validate Ryan Reynolds in this way," he said.
Reynolds and Jackman have had a long-running faux rivalry, which first began after they met on the set of the 2009 movie "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", in which they played the current respective Marvel characters (Deadpool and Wolverine). The fake feud continued over the next several years, culminating in a video last September, in which Reynolds announced the two would be collaborating on a new "Deadpool" movie, set for release in late 2024.
"Hey, Hugh, you wanna play Wolverine one more time?" Reynolds asks in the video, as Jackman casually walks up a flight of stairs in the background.
"Yeah, sure, Ryan," Jackman responds, while eating an apple.
This year's Oscar nominations will be announced Tuesday, Jan. 24.
