Shawn Levy on His Bromance with Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds: 'Men Don't Make a Lot of Friends' (Exclusive)

Blame it on Hugh Jackman! The director, who has also become a friend to Taylor Swift, opens up about how he formed a deep friendship with his 'Deadpool 3' costars

Blame it on Hugh Jackman.

Director Shawn Levy has recently been spotted all over New York with his pals Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman — even hanging out with them alongside Taylor Swift in a box at the Jets-Chiefs Game.

On Thursday, they were all spotted at the same gathering. Jackman, Reynolds and Levy are all besties, neighbors and about to continue work on Deadpool 3 together when the SAG-AFTRA strike ends.

And Levy, 55, tells PEOPLE that Hugh Jackman, also 55, is the one that made the bromance happen in the first place.

"It's all thanks to Hugh," Levy says, noting that he first met the Aussie actor after directing him in the film Real Steel in 2011. "He predicted this 11 years ago. I vividly remember him saying, 'I'm friends with this guy Ryan Reynolds, and if you ever meet, you guys are going to never stop working together again."

Related: Taylor Swift Has All-Star Hangout with Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Hugh Jackman and Deadpool Director

Levy says that he not only met Reynolds, 47, but he went on to direct him in both Free Guy and The Adam Project, and Jackman's prediction was correct.

"I haven't made a truly close friend since college," he says. "Men don't tend to make a lot of friends. But Hugh and Ryan happen to be the two guys that I talk about real life s--t with. We get together as husbands and guys and dads. And now we get to work together, which has been an absolute blast."

Levy, who recently moved to New York City after being in Los Angeles for over 20 years, says having friends as neighbors has also been fun.

"I actually moved to New York because I made a promise to my wife that I would when we first met, and I finally had to make good on that promise," he jokes. "But living within a few blocks of your friends is the greatest, whether it's going for a walk along the Hudson, or doing a shared workout, where I watch them lift heavy things and then I lift way less heavy things. It's a very nice friendship."

Levy, who also produces Stranger Things, and whose latest project, Netflix's All the Light We Cannot See comes out Nov. 2, adds that hanging with Swift, 33, has been an added bonus to his bromance. (They met through Blake Lively, who is married to Reynolds and close friends with Swift.)

"She's a very fun hang," he says of the singer, laughing about all the attention they got when they were in a suite at the Jets-Chiefs game earlier this month. He also says Swift gave him "dad-cred" for life when she cast him in her 2021 project All Too Well: The Short Film, which she directed.

"You have to understand, my daughters are between the ages of 12 to 24, so Taylor Swift has been their only shared idol for that entire span of their lives," he says. "So when she asked me to be in the video for All Too Well, and I was able to bring all four daughters to be in that video with me, I got dad cred for life."

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