Hugh Jackman surprised fans when he unloaded on his longtime frenemy Ryan Reynolds on stage on Friday.
The Australian entertainer, aged 56, shared an anecdote during his performance at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall. He reminisced about his time working with Ryan, aged 48, on their successful superhero movie, Deadpool & Wolverine.
Video footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com captures Hugh expressing his enjoyment of filming the movie, stating that he had a fantastic experience. However, he did mention one small issue – feeling left out of the Marvel film’s musical sequence.
‘Don’t tell Ryan,’ the Greatest Showman star joked with the audience of his musical review, titled From New York, With Love in the footage.
During the show, Hugh, who has sparked a new romance with his former colleague Sutton Foster from Music Man, pointed out that he and Ryan appeared in every scene together in the film, except for the opening when Deadpool was seeking Wolverine.
‘Now that’s fine, I don’t need to be in every scene in the movie. But Ryan is a writer,’ the X-Men star continued. ‘And when I see the script, I see that the scene that I’m not in is the opening sequence which is a dance number to an NSYNC song by Ryan.
‘I’m like, the one scene I’m not in has dance. Now Ryan, he’s very talented, but dancing?’ he continued to laughter from the audience.
Lucky for his fans, Hugh said he was going to try to ‘rectify’ the issue.
He clarified that he wouldn’t be trying to replicate the work of the film’s choreographer, Darrin Henson, but he also took another swipe at Ryan by reminding the audience that he didn’t even do his own dancing.
‘There is no way I would try and match Ryan’s dance double Nick Pauley… because the guy’s like 25 years old,’ he continued.
Then he brought out his trainer, Beth Lewis — who had a ‘past life’ as a dancer — to help him perform ‘the dance that got away.’
Then Hugh did his best to show up Ryan by performing a dance to NSYNC’s 2000 monster hit Bye Bye Bye.
The new choreography emphasized his dexterity and athleticism by forcing him to jump rope the entire time.
He managed to jump in rhythm while inverting his arms and swiping the rope side to side, before he theatrically landed on the rope to signal the end of the dance.
He was joined by several of his backup dancers who performed the choreography in unison.
Before it got started, he joked that his trainer Beth would let him take a break from training on Monday after working up an extra sweat at the show.
The musical aficionado has been enjoying showing off his passion for singing and dancing in recent months while hosting his new stage show.
He began a 12-show run starting in January at Radio City Musical, though the schedule leaves him plenty of time for other obligations in Hollywood and elsewhere, as he is only performing on select weekends through the final shows on August 15 and 16.
Even though he took the opportunity to poke fun at his friend Ryan by showing up his dance skills, the Deadpool & Wolverine–inspired performance was right in line with the rest of the show, as he performs his iconic musical numbers and dance sequences from past projects, including Les Misérables, The Music Man, The Greatest Showman and The Boy From Oz.
The show is going on amid Hugh’s high-profile romance with fellow actress Sutton Foster, 50, following his 2023 separation from actress Deborra-Lee Furness after 27 years of marriage.
Foster later filed for uncontested divorce from her second husband, Ted Griffin, in October of last year in New York County Supreme Court.
The stage and screen performer and her ex share a seven-year-old daughter Emily, whom they adopted.
Prior to their split, Sutton mentioned to Vogue in 2022 that she and Hugh’s families spent Memorial Day together that year.
Despite their closeness in recent years, sources told DailyMail.com that he and Sutton never had any overlap in their relationship with his marriage to Deborra-Lee.
However, a source close to his estranged wife added that, ‘While he didn’t physically cheat on her with Sutton, Deborra-Lee believes they were having an emotional affair and she feels he betrayed her.’
Hugh and his ex, who share two adult adopted children — son Oscar, 24; and daughter Ava, 19 — may have a difficult time carving up his alleged $200 million fortune.
The couple reportedly had no prenuptial agreement, and they have since been ‘struggling to reach an agreement on how to divide their assets,’ an insider told DailyMail.com in March. ‘Deborra-Lee feels entitled to more money than Hugh is willing to offer.’
