Hugh Jackman, staring down the abyss of a potentially harrowing year filming Deadpool 3, beseeched the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to not give his costar Ryan Reynolds a Best Original Song nomination for the Spirited track “Good Afternoon.”
At the tail end of last year, “Good Afternoon” — from Reynold’s recent Christmas flick with Will Ferrell and Octavia Spencer — appeared on the Academy’s shortlist for this year’s Best Original Song prize (the actual nominations won’t be announced until Jan. 24). The news, however, only just seemed to reach Jackman, who shared a video on social media expressing his concerns about this development (which are technically totally moot, but more on that in a second).
Jackman did, of course, espouse his love for Spirited, the film’s stars, “Good Afternoon” itself, and two of its songwriters Benji Pasek and Justin Paul (who wrote the music for the Jackman-starring musical biopic The Greatest Showman). But, he stressed, “Ryan Reynolds getting a nomination in the Best Song category would make the next year of my life insufferable.”
He continued, “I mean, I have to spend a year with him shooting Wolverine and Deadpool. Trust me, it would be impossible. It would be a problem. So, just to recap, love Spirited, love Will, love Octavia, love the song ‘Good Afternoon,’ love Benj and Justin. But please, please, from the bottom of my heart — do not validate Ryan Reynolds in this way. Please.”
Now, not to “well, actually” Hugh Jackman, let alone a silly, but still blatant bit of Oscar campaigning but… Well, actually, even if “Good Afternoon” did receive an Oscar nomination for Best Song, Reynolds wouldn’t be among the nominees. The prize is only handed out to songwriters and composers, not performers, and only Pasek, Paul, Khiyon Hursey, Mark Sonnenblick, and Sukari Jones are credited on “Good Afternoon.”
At best, Reynolds would probably get the chance to perform “Good Afternoon” at the Oscars. Or, as he quipped in response to Jackman’s video on Twitter, “I think the deepfakes that sung and danced for Will and I would love to perform at the Oscars.”
So, rest easy, Hugh. You’ll likely be the only top-billed Oscar nominee on the Deadpool 3 set this year (unless there’s a surprising number of Academy voters who loved Reynolds’ performances in The Adam Project or Spirited).
