Hugh Jackman begs the Academy not to nominate frenemy Ryan Reynolds for Oscar

Hugh Jackman‘s fake feud with his friend Ryan Reynolds got kicked up a notch on Wednesday after he campaigned to prevent his pal from getting an Oscar.

The 54-year-old Logan star shared a video to social media urging the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to not nominate the 46-year-old Deadpool star in the Best Original Song category.

Ryan inched closer to a potential Oscar nomination when he was included in the Oscars shortlist for the song category, which was announced in December.

The actor was nominated for the song Good Afternoon, which is featured in his musical Christmas comedy Spirited, which costars Will Ferrell.

Pleading: Hugh Jackman, 54, continued his fake feud with friend Ryan Reynolds on Wednesday when he urged the Academy not to nominate Ryan, 46, for Best Original Song

Hugh sounded somber and reserved at the start of his video, as if he was preparing to deliver a dose of bad news.

‘Hey everybody, it’s 2023 and I really, really wanted to send out a positive message at the beginning of the year but recent events have made that impossible. Don’t get me wrong, I love Spirited, it’s a great movie, we had a blast, the entire family watched it,’ he began. ‘I love Will [Ferrell], I love Octavia [Spencer], obviously I did The Greatest Showman with [songwriters] Benj [Pasek] and Justin [Paul], they’re incredible and I love their music.’

‘And Good Afternoon, the song, I laughed the entire way through,’ he continued. ‘It’s absolutely brilliant. However, I just heard the Academy have shortlisted Good Afternoon in the Best Song category.

‘Ryan Reynolds getting a nomination in the Best Song Category would make the next year of my life insufferable,’ he explained. ‘I have to spend a year with him shooting Wolverine and Deadpool. Trust me. It would be impossible. It would be a problem. 

Getting closer: Ryan was shortlisted for Best Original Song for his Christmas comedy Spirited (pictured), which costars Will Ferrell. The list will be whittled down with the eventual nominees

Looking out for himself: ‘Ryan Reynolds getting a nomination in the Best Song Category would make the next year of my life insufferable,’ Hugh joked, before praising the rest of the cast and the songwriters

Snappy: Ryan responded and joked that deepfakes had performed his songs in Spirited

‘Just to recap: love Spirited, love Will, love Octavia, love the song… but please, please, from the bottom of my heart, do not nominate Ryan Reynolds in this way, please,’ he pleaded in a comic deadpan.

Of course, Ryan saw the video and was quick to share a snappy reply.

‘Disagree,’ he wrote. ‘I think the deepfakes that sung and danced for Will and I would love to perform at the Oscars.’

Ryan’s film is an updated modern-day adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Tale, in which Will stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, who has become the Ghost of Christmas Present, while Ryan plays his potential successor to the role.

The film received modestly positive reviews and boasts a 63 percent fresh rating from the most high-profile critics surveyed by Rotten Tomatoes. 

Christmas spirit: Spirited is an updated adaptation of A Christmas Tale, in which Will Ferrell stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, who has become the Ghost of Christmas Present, while Ryan plays his potential successor to the role

Doing it for laughs: Hugh and Ryan met on the set of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and became fast friends, before launching a years-long fake feud

Hugh and Ryan have collaborated several times, and Ryan played an early version of his Marvel character Deadpool in Hugh’s spinoff X-Men Origins: Wolverine, though it was substantially different from the wisecracking character he would debut in the Deadpool solo films.

After meeting on the film shoot, the two became fast friends. They regularly make cameo appearances in each other’s films, but they also launched a fake feud which continues to this day.

Last month, Hugh posted a humorous video in which he joked that Ryan had broken into his Manhattan penthouse after he put up a cardboard cutout of the comic actor from Spirited.

‘How did he get in here? What the hell?! This is my home,’ he joked, before layering in some police sirens into his video. 

Having a laugh: Last month, Hugh posted a humorous video in which he joked that Ryan had broken into his Manhattan penthouse after he put up a cardboard cutout of the comic actor from Spirited