"Does drinking Aviation gin make you feel like a superhero?" asks perennial prankster and Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds in the latest cheeky commercial for his signature liquor brand.However, keen viewers will notice that the actor is sporting a somewhat cryptic mustache that would earn a nod of respect from Sam Elliot.
Then, after a sip from a copper mug long associated with the Moscow Mule and other gin-based beverages, said mustache suddenly disappears, even as a supremely confident Reynolds gives a long look into the camera and says, "I wouldn’t know." A jolt of quite dismal CGI later and Reynolds struggles with a disappearing and reappearing mustache before collapsing off camera. It’s a work of diabolical comedy and it’s only 17 seconds long.
Reynolds, of course, is taking a shot at the infamous mustache that Henry Cavill was asked to grow for his role as a double agent in Mission: Impossible -- Fallout, which found him at odds with Tom Cruise’s long-suffering Ethan Hunt. Fans also likely remember that Cavill had to keep the mustache even as Warner Bros.' blockbuster production of Justice League required the Man of Steel to return for reshoots, mustache and all.
There’s plenty of drama behind the story, including an offer of $3 million to MI director Christopher McQuarrie’s production, but it was ultimately decided that Cavill’s enormous lip caterpillar would be erased in post-production using VFX and other digital techniques, with radically mixed results.
It’s certainly not the first time that Ryan Reynolds has poked fun at the rarified air of celebrity. In addition to his long-running (fake) feud with his X-Men Origins: Wolverine costar Hugh Jackman, he painted a friend’s entire office puce and played the Marvin Gaye song "Let’s Get It On" for Lively — while she was in labor.