What took longer, shooting Deadpool & Wolverine or filming all this promo? Reports from last year suggest that it took about 70 days to wrap the R-rated, cameo-stuffed Marvel threequel. But it sort of feels like Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman made a much bigger time commitment when they signed up to hang out on the press tour. Mind you, Deadpool & Wolverine currently holds the world record for the most-watched trailer in 24 hours, and it’s already expected to make history at the box office. Yet that hasn’t stopped Reynolds and Jackman from doing everything possible to try and ensure maximum financial success.
So far, the duo have promoted Deadpool & Wolverine side-by-side while dropping by late-night shows to serenade each other, dangling in the air as part of a human claw machine, and even clocking in for a shift as guest hosts. They’ve also cooked in front of Gordon Ramsay, tried not to choke on Hot Ones, committed to the Chicken Shop Date bit, strapped themselves into lie detectors, played with puppies, taken friendship quizzes,tested each other’s memory of past movie lines, compared IMDb pages, done a couple K-pop crossovers, and debated whether Blake Lively could do better. And that’s before we even get into the standard barrage of interviews where they were paired up onred carpets, the radio, and daytime talk shows.
At this point, it’s starting to feel like the press tour has generated enough footage to make its own movie. A bromantic comedy, to be specific — because even though Reynolds and Jackman have been playing into a yearslong social media feud, the facade slips on camera. Yes, they’re actors who play pretend for a living, but the easy flow of their conversation and laughter throughout all these games and interviews suggests that they genuinely enjoy each other’s company. In fact, we’re starting to suspect that it might be written into their contracts that if they have to do all this promo around the world, then they’ve gotta do it with a buddy by their side. Basically, Reynolds and Jackman are friends with benefits, but the benefit is that their hangouts might make their movie more money.