Brandon Sklenar has been actively promoting the upcoming romantic drama “It Ends With Us” alongside his co-stars, but he wasn’t expecting a surprise grilling session from Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. On Tuesday, Sklenar attended the New York City premiere of “It Ends With Us” and spoke with ET’s Rachel Smith about the recent viral promo video, which he “had no idea” about.
Brandon Sklenar has been right beside his It Ends With Us co-stars promoting their upcoming romantic drama for weeks, but he wasn”t expecting to get a surprise grilling from Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.
On Tuesday, Sklenar, 34, attended the New York City premiere of It Ends With Us, wherehe spoke with ET”s Rachel Smith about the recent viral promo, which he “had no idea” about.
Ahead of the premiere, Reynolds, 47, shared a clip of him crashing a junket interview with Sklenar — who plays the love interest of Reynolds” wife, Blake Lively, in It Ends With Us — and posing as an interviewer to grill the actor on the nature of his relationship with Lively, 36. The hilarious bit also saw Reynolds ask his real-life mom, Tammy Reynolds, to grill Sklenar, as well as his Deadpool & Wolverine co-star and real-life bestie, Jackman, 55.
“The first time I ever read it was while we were shooting it,” Sklenar revealed to ET. “So I had no idea what was happening.”
The “junket crashers” video saw Sklenar awkwardly dodging questions from Reynolds and Reynolds” mom about why he wants to steal Lively away, and reached a strangely heartfelt high point when Jackman came out and Sklenar was genuinely moved just by getting to meet the beloved movie star.
“I found out Hugh was coming like an hour before,” Sklenar explained. “He”s the literal dream… I mean, all of them are…. [but] to have someone that is that prolific and incredible — it could be a musical, it could be Wolverine, it can be Prisoners, it can be whatever it is, and he”s literally one of the greatest actors walking the Earth.”
Sklenar said he was truly moved by getting the meet Jackman in person.
“He”s so unbelievably kind and down to Earth,” he shared. “We finished that video and I walked away and someone came up and was like, ”Do you want an iced coffee?” And I just started crying, like legitimately crying. It was just so beautiful.”
“It was such a beautiful thing to do, such a show of support,” he added, referring to Reynolds and Jackman lending their star power and buzz to promote another film they aren”t even in. “It was just amazing, like on a human level. Just incredible.” Brandon Sklenar, Blake Lively, and Ryan Reynolds attend the “It Ends With Us” New York premiere at AMC Lincoln Square Theater on Aug. 6, 2024 in New York City. – Cindy Ord/Getty Images
It Ends With Us will be going up against Deadpool & Wolverine for its third weekend at the box office. The superhero epic has already become the high-grossing R-rated film at the domestic box office and raked in $852 million worldwide.
It Ends With Us — adapted from Colleen Hoover”s novel of the same name — follows flower shop owner Lily Bloom”s (Lively) volatile relationship with boyfriend Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) amid the reappearance of her first love, Atlas Corrigan (Sklenar). The film, directed by Baldoni, also stars Hasan Minhaj and Jenny Slate as Allysa Kincaid, Lily”s best friend and Ryle”s sister.
It Ends With Us hits theaters Aug. 9.