While we know Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman for their feuding off-screen or fighting as Deadpool and Wolverine on screen, now, both of them are also known as song and dance men. While Jackman is known for his ability to tap dance and sing his heart out on both the stage and screen, Reynolds is not so known for those skills, at least until he signed on opposite Will Ferrell in Spiritied. Turns out Jackman actually gave his pal some advice when it came to learning how to sing and dance, however, the tips seemed to backfire a bit (unsurprisingly, considering their hysterical history of bickering).
Reynolds' latest entry in the 2022 movie schedule is in the Christmas musical Spirited. If you've seen the Spirited trailer, you should know he sings and dances in the holiday movie, and in an interview with Big Issue the actor revealed how his pal Hugh Jackman attempted to help him prepare for the musical... though he's now lightly roasting himself and his pal for the advice.
[Dancing] comes so naturally to Hugh that in a weird way, his helping was not helping. He was like, ‘Just make sure you’re listening to those count-offs and those beats’. And I was like, ‘I don’t hear the beats, man. Help me out with something real here!’
It sounds a Reynolds/Jackman dance lesson is full of all the same tomfoolery and squabbling we’ve become accustomed to with these two. I can just picture the Wolverine actor trying to get Reynolds to dance after saying “...and 5, 6, 7, 8” and the comedian being absolutely clueless. Despite Jackman’s extensive musical resume, it seems like he was not able to successfully pass his knowledge along to the Free Guy actor.
Aside from some minor roasting, Reynolds did speak about the “sage” advice his frenemy gave him about working on a musical. He said The Greatest Showman star said that he needed to make sure he enjoyed the process of making the film, explaining “if you enjoy it, we’ll enjoy it.” Or, as he put it:
Hugh and I were having coffee one day and he reminded me of something that is so vital with almost anything that you’re doing in the arts. He said, ‘Just remember to enjoy it, because if you’re enjoying it, we’ll enjoy it.’ That was something that I constantly reminded myself. Even when I felt so out of my depth, which was almost every day, I kept reminding myself that this is an opportunity of a lifetime. And it actually extended well beyond this project into other aspects of my life. So that was pretty good advice.
Not only is it great advice generally, but it’s coming from someone with a stellar musical background. On the screen, the Wolverine actor has starred as lead characters in acclaimed musicals like The Greatest Showman and Les Misérables. He also has quite the list of stage credits, including his most recent role in The Music Man on Broadway, his Tony award-winning role in The Boy From Oz, and his West End debut in Oklahoma!. So, Reynolds had an expert at his disposal to learn how to dance, but alas it didn’t seem to work out; at least he got some good life advice out of it.
Clearly, Reynolds figured it out, because he does dance his heart out in Spirited, which can be steamed with an Apple TV+ subscription. Now, I’d really love to see the two of them together in a musical! Although that feels like a farfetched dream. Luckily though, we will get to see Jackman and Reynolds together as their iconic X-Men characters when Deadpool 3 hits theaters in 2024.
