The release of comic book movie Deadpool & Wolverine is still a day away as Wrexham striker Ollie Palmer takes to the stage in a Canadian theatre that, appropriately considering what is about to be discussed, sits just a 10-minute walk away from Ryan Reynolds’ old secondary school.
Vancouver’s Hollywood Theatre is packed with hundreds of locals sporting the colours of a football club who, until being bought by Reynolds and Rob McElhenney in 2021, had led a pretty unassuming existence for more than 150 years.
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Gazing around the auditorium are a small band of supporters who have travelled from Wales to watch their team on a tour that, in the past week, had also enjoyed stop-offs in Santa Barbara and San Francisco.
As the conversation on stage at the Men in Blazers event turns to whether the rumours about Palmer appearing in the upcoming Marvel offering, those same fans can’t help but smile at how surreal life following Wrexham has become.
“I have a little cameo,” confirms Palmer to a huge cheer from the crowd and a few bewildered but amused shakes of the head from the Welsh contingent. “Though if you blink, you might miss me.”
Cameo or not, Palmer and strike partner Paul Mullin — he plays ‘Welshpool’, a Welsh version of Reynolds’ Deadpool character — appearing in a film that took more than $400million (£310m) at the box office over the weekend is pretty remarkable.
Mullin and Palmer scored 34 goals between them in League Two last season (Bradley Collyer/Getty Images)
Wrexham’s strike duo have co-chairman Reynolds to thank for perhaps cinema’s most unlikely link-up with football since Sylvester Stallone joined Pele, Bobby Moore and half of Ipswich Town’s UEFA Cup-winning side in tackling the Nazis in 1981 film Escape to Victory.
“I love stunt placing friends and family in my films,” explains Reynolds to The Athletic. “Since Wrexham is family to me it seemed crazy to not honor the town and club in some way.
“Shooting the film in England afforded easy opportunities to have players pop down. Most people don’t know this because of his football, but Paul trained for eight years with the Royal Shakespeare company. They still talk about his Prospero…”
GO DEEPERWhy can't films get football right?The prospect of Mullin starring in the latest production of The Tempest may sound unlikely. But, life has become so crazy for Wrexham since Hollywood came to town that supporters learned long ago to expect the unexpected.
Certainly,few eyebrows are raised these days when A-list stars such as Will Ferrell and Paul Rudd pop into The Turf pub that sits next to the club’s SToK Cae Ras home for a pre-match pint.
Nor does a crowd of 34,738 turning out to watch Phil Parkinson’s League One side play a friendly 4,500 miles from home come as much of a shock, even if it is a couple of thousand more than the Vancouver Whitecaps’ previous record in the MLS era.
The majority of that record-breaking crowd at BC Place sporting the red of the visitors also came as no surprise to those who have followed the global success story that the Welcome to Wrexham documentary has become.
Palmer, like Mullin, has become a familiar face to sports fans on the other side of the Atlantic thanks to his role in the show’s first three series. Even so, it took an impressive piece of chutzpah on the part of the Londoner to secure his place on the big screen in a scene featuring both Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s character Wolverine.
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After explaining to the Hollywood Theatre crowd at last Thursday’s event how he hadn’t been able to speak previously about his cameo “because Ryan asked me not to”, the 32-year-old added: “He (Reynolds) originally invited me down to Pinewood Studios (just outside London) to watch him at work, which was quite a nice role-reversal.
“As I do, I managed to blag my way into the film. I just got way too involved. The director, Shawn Levy is his name and a lovely bloke, I started giving him a little bit of advice on what angle I’d shoot that clip and that clip.
“He said to me, ‘Do you just want to f****** get in the film?’ I said, ‘ Yes’ and went back a few weeks later to spend the day there. I had a wicked day. They really looked after me. It’s only a short, tiny little moment but it took a bloody long time filming it.
“A wicked experience and one I’m really grateful for. A special day I’ll always remember.”
Ryan Reynolds (right) stars in Deadpool & Wolverine alongside Hugh Jackman (left) (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)
The unlikely appearance of two League One strikers in arguably the most hyped movie of the year had been widely touted for months, if not actually confirmed by the two Wrexham stars.
Eagle-eyed fans had spotted a bearded character who bore a resemblance to Palmer in the background of a scene featured in April’s trailer, while rumours have circulated for some time about Mullin’s potential involvement.
Neither, though, would lend the stories credence, even when quizzed by team-mates and club staff. Only when the film was released on Friday and the duo’s names were in the credits did those Wrexham employees know for certain.
Unlike Palmer, Mullin’s face does not actually appear on screen in Deadpool. But, if anything, his role is bigger than the the strike partner he has forged such a deadly understanding with these past couple of years.
The masked Liverpudlian, whose Welshpool costume in the film is plastered with Welsh flags across the chest and shoulders, appears in a sequence featuring hordes of Deadpool variants.
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At one stage, the camera pauses on Mullin’s character to shine a further light on Reynolds’ new-found connections with the country.
The Canadian was clearly pleased with the end result, quipping in a tweet that also featured a photo of the pair in costume but with their masks off: “You may have noticed one member of the Deadpool Corps was far deadlier than the rest. WELSHPOOL.”
Palmer and Mullin’s unlikely appearance in the film, which shot straight into the top 10 opening weekend grossing films of all time in the domestic North American market after movie-goers spent a staggering $205million, was made possible by the close bond both co-owners have formed with the players.
Rob McElhenney with the Wrexham squad in Beverly Hills, California (Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Reynolds and McElhenney are in regular contact with the team, often getting in touch to praise individuals or offer commiserations after a defeat. Last season, for instance, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia creator McElhenney reached out to Mullin during an uncharacteristic goalscoring drought to offer his support.
The duo also visit the dressing room whenever at the Racecourse Ground for a home match, while every new signing, as part of their induction, is told by club staff to “expect a phone call from an American number” due to Reynolds wanting to personally welcome each new arrival to the club.
These bonds with the dressing room were strengthened further during the recent North America tour, with McElhenney attending all three pre-season matches involving the men’s team and Reynolds taking a break from his extensive global publicity work for Deadpool to watch last Saturday’s 4-1 win over the Whitecaps in his home city.
A clearly exhausted Reynolds also took time to visit the Wrexham dressing room before the game to catch up with manager Parkinson and the players, while McElhenney was a familiar face around the team hotel throughout a tour that also saw him and wife Kaitlin Olson support the women’s team at games in both Los Angeles and Portland.
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Wrexham this week replaced Mullin’s profile picture on their official website with an image of ‘Welshpool’ as the striker revealed on X his own customised football boots with ‘F*** the Wolvie’ on the side.
Going forward, however, there could be serious long-term benefits for Wrexham, according to long-time supporter— and breakout star from series one of the documentary — Michael Hett.
As lead singer of The Declan Swans, he coined the lyric ‘Bring on the Deadpool….’ in the ‘Always Sunny in Wrexham’ song that became a hugely popular terrace anthem after first featuring in the documentary.
He has seen, first-hand, just how popular the Welsh club has become in the U.S. and Canada after attending all three recent tour games as a fan, plus last year’s friendly match against Philadelphia Union in McElhenney’s home town.
“We’re still in ‘pinch me’ territory, if I’m honest,” says Hett, who first watched Wrexham in the 1970s. “Even after three years, all this just doesn’t feel real. We’ve just won back-to-back promotions and are looking forward to League One just a couple of years after fearing we’d be trapped in non-League forever.
“Now, we’ve got two players appearing in the biggest film of the year. This just doesn’t happen to a football club, and certainly not ours. It just shows how worldwide the club now is thank to these two lads.
“Everything Rob and Ryan touch turns to gold. Having something like Deadpool happen can only help the club grow further, too. More people will be asking, ‘Who is this Wrexham?’ That can only be good news for the club.
“I went to Philadelphia last year and was surprised by just how big all this had become in America. But it’s grown again since last year. Everywhere you looked last week on the tour, there were so many locals dressed in Wrexham gear. Not just hundreds but thousands and thousands of Americans and Canadians.
“We’re living in incredible times.”
(Top photo: Ryan Reynolds via Instagram)
