BEVERLY HILLS, UNITED STATES (AFP) – From subversive superheroes to sports documentaries, Hollywood A-lister Ryan Reynolds said he is focussed on exploring new forms of storytelling, as he received a prestigious film industry honour.
The star of comic-book movies such as Deadpool and Green Lantern made headlines last year when he bought lowly Welsh football team Wrexham, along with fellow actor Rob McElhenney.
Their takeover and the fifth-tier team’s subsequent bid for promotion was the subject of hit docuseries Welcome to Wrexham, the latest in a booming trend of behind-the-scenes sports documentaries.
Sport “is storytelling happening in real time. So I love applying that to Wrexham”, said Reynolds at a Beverly Hills gala on Thursday.
“I’ve fallen in love with not just Wrexham but the people of Wales. I knew I’d be entrenched in the town, I just didn’t know that it would go this deep this quickly.
“It’s been amazing. It’s been truly one of the great privileges of my life.” While Welcome to Wrexham is unusual because its stars and producers took ownership of the club – despite admitting to knowing almost nothing about football – sports documentaries more generally have soared in popularity in recent times.
Netflix scored hits with basketball series The Last Dance and Formula 1: Drive to Survive, while Amazon Prime’s popular All Or Nothing franchise offers fans glimpses of what goes on inside elite teams.
“We live in a world that moves incredibly fast. If you can move at the speed of what people are talking about, when they’re talking about it, you can move mountains – and sports is that,” said Reynolds.
Reynolds last week told late-night host Jimmy Fallon he is interested in buying a much larger franchise – the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Asked about the bid at Thursday’s gala, Reynolds teased: “We’ll see.”
