Ryan Reynolds revealed this week that he’s been documenting an unannounced Disney+ production built around Hugh Jackman and the Bonds Flying Roos, Australia’s national touch football team.
Reynolds shared the news on Instagram, framing it as a kind of open invitation. He laid out the specific sequence he’d experienced: time on the water and at the beach with the Bonds Flying Roos, a team shoey, and a trip into the city to catch Jackman and the cast deliver what Reynolds called “an acting tour de force.” His closing note: “Maybe not the shoey. But definitely do the rest.”
The shoey, for those unfamiliar with Australian rugby culture, involves drinking a beverage from a shoe. It is a real tradition, and a well-loved one. Reynolds’ mild ambivalence about participating is understandable. His enthusiasm for everything else comes through clearly.
Salt Lab Productions is handling the production work, with cinematographer Vinnie Gorham credited. That caliber of crew doesn’t sign on for casual content experiments. The production has the look of something properly assembled.
The Bonds Flying Roos are Australia’s national touch football squad, competing internationally at the highest level of the sport. Touch football, the non-contact variant of the game, commands a serious following in Australia. The Roos have represented the country at multiple World Cup tournaments. Their pairing with two of Hollywood’s biggest names for a Disney+ production is, on its surface, a surprising combination. The connection makes more sense with Jackman’s background factored in. He’s Australian, has spoken about his homeland with genuine warmth across decades of interviews, and has threaded his national identity through his public persona in ways both small and large.
Reynolds has developed a real instinct for sports storytelling. His ownership stake in Wrexham AFC generated Welcome to Wrexham for FX. That docuseries later moved to Disney+ and turned a modest Welsh football club into one of the more compelling streaming narratives of recent years. Reynolds didn’t treat soccer as a backdrop. He treated the community as the subject. This new project has a recognizable shape.
The Reynolds-Jackman dynamic has a long public history. The two spent years trading theatrical insults across social media. Eventually they set the rivalry aside for Deadpool & Wolverine. That film became a massive box office success in 2024. Reynolds has built a career on strategic humor, and praise from him lands differently as a result. After years of performed animosity, his genuine admiration for Jackman’s work here is worth noting.
Reynolds is producing, Jackman is performing, and Salt Lab is behind the camera. The Bonds Flying Roos are at the center of the story. No title or release date has been announced. The shoey, Reynolds suggests, is the one element that remains optional.
