NBR Awards: Ryan Reynolds Honors ‘Wicked,’ Jokingly Takes Aim at “Too Perfect” Jonathan Bailey

Wicked fans may have been mourning their beloved film after Sunday’s Golden Globes, where it only won one of the four awards for which it was nominated, but the movie adaptation of the Broadway musical was the toast of the town in New York on Tuesday night. At the 2025 , was honored with best film, best director (Jon M. Chu) and a special award for the collaboration between stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. The accolades, which NBR announced in early December, were presented, as is customary at the gala at New York’s Cipriani 42nd Street, via star-studded introductions and extended speeches from each of this year’s honorees. Related Stories Lin-Manuel Miranda honored his In the Heights director Chu, and Yeoh paid tribute to her Wicked co-stars Erivo and Grande. But NBR saved arguably the most star power for the end of the night, with taking the stage to recognize Wicked as NBR’s pick for the best film of 2024. The appearance marked the first public event for the Deadpool & Wolverine star since his wife, actress Blake Lively, sued her It Ends With Us co-star and director Justin Baldoni for sexual harassment. Lively’s allegations, including that Baldoni’s PR team launched a campaign to undermine her reputation, first emerged shortly before Christmas with the two sides trading barbs since then, including via dueling lawsuits, both filed on New Year’s Eve. Recalling seeing Wicked at New York City’s Metrograph theater, where he previously took his then-three-year-old daughter in 2017 to see The Wizard of Oz, Reynolds praised the film and its performers, while weaving in some of his signature wit. “Yeah, Wicked is a musical, and I feel that they’ve been very open about that,” Reynolds said, alluding to the recent trend of musical movies not being advertised as such. “Music: it’s a language. It’s a language written by few, but felt by many, and there is only one Stephen Schwartz. Like sports and the theatrical experience, music is truly one of the last great opportunities for togetherness, and this beautiful film is a signal fire of togetherness, feeling the same thing at the same moment is an experience that is in scarce supply these days.” He continued, speaking about the female-centric story, “Wicked is indeed wicked. It dares to center two powerful women. It examines a nuanced, complex relationship, which has resonated with people for over two decades on stage. Stories about women seem to be held to a different set of standards, and that is to say that they’re often held to the standards women are held to in life. You must be perfect; you must hide your strength; you must shape shift or placate. But [NBCUniversal chairman and chief content officer] Donna Langley and Universal, they know where and with whom to place their trust, and it paid off in this film.” But there was one element of the film that Reynolds deemed “too perfect,” specifically Fiyero actor Jonathan Bailey. “Personally, I would have preferred fewer scenes featuring Mr. Bailey,” he quipped. “Being good is great, but being great is bad. You can’t just go around indiscriminately spraying charisma all over an enraptured audience, might feel nice in the moment but it could easily destabilize the entire industry. I’m not sure you’re aware, but I, too, am a movie actor. Some might even say, in short, the HLMS or Hollywood Leading Man Society simply cannot sustain the standard of performance this time, and it is in our collective best interest that Jonathan Bailey tone it the fuck down. You’re making us look terrible. I cannot work harder than I already work, and plastic surgery frightens me, Johnny. Can I call you Johnny, if you’re here? I don’t give a shit.” He went on to praise producer Marc Platt, Chu, Grande and Erivo. “You can feel the moral compass in the DNA of your work,” he said of Chu. “You can feel it in the promotion. I mean, the man missed the premiere of his own film so he could attend the birth of his fifth child. I barely made it to the conception of my own children. Ariana Grande, your comedic athleticism and charm is never at the cost of emotional stakes. I have watched your performance over and over again, and I’ve learned from you each and every time. If Gene Wilder were alive today, I think he would be in awe of you.” Erivo he said, “makes vulnerability show up as courage. She makes the hardest work appear as effortlessness. Cynthia, what you do in this film and in all your work, is a recipe of mischief, humanity and tender grit. You should be given all the Michelin stars, because this is the product of a master chef. When you perform, it feels as if there’s literally nobody else on Earth who could do what it is that you do and what you’re doing in this film is extremely hard, but you make it look like a moment’s thought, because that’s what a movie star does.” He went on to joke that her Elphaba is “broom sticking so well it makes Harry Potter look like a lazy fucking asshole.” Reynolds then called the cast and crew of the film up to the stage to accept their award, where Platt spoke about the modern-day resonance of the Wizard of Oz prequel, saying that they hoped viewers would see “something of the world that we live in reflected in the land of Oz and what exists far over the rainbow. Because Wicked asks all of us to look at things a different way to get to the truth, even in the world where I guess there’s no more fact finding, and to find that truth and then to have the courage to speak truth to power, especially when that power is manifested by those who come to it by blame or by divisiveness and dividing us.” He added, speaking of the power of the “collective experience” of cinema, “As everyone in this room knows, and all the wonderful storytellers in this room are aware that, as you heard tonight, there is great power in cinema and in film. It is the collective experience of our time that audiences share through character and story and music and dance that has the ability, as so many have said, to connect us, which is what we need more than ever. So our hope is that when we all go out and we see that green one across the street, she may look different from us. She may love differently than us, she may pray differently than us, she may vote differently than us, but in our world of open optimism, we will open our hearts to her and try and judge her by the character of her soul, and in so doing, become connected, which is what we must all do.”

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