Ryan Reynolds Talks His Kids' Close Friendship With John Krasinski's Kids: They're 'Obsessed' (Exclusive)

It appears friendship runs in the Krasinski and Reynolds families!

Sitting down with ET's Rachel Smith to talk about his upcoming film, IF, Ryan Reynolds opened up about how his four children with Blake Lively are "obsessed" with John Krasinski's two daughters, whom he shares with Emily Blunt. Krasinski, 44, serves as the film's director, writer and voice actor and has previously stated that his girls -- Hazel, 10, and Violet, 7 -- inspired the story.

"I know Krasinski's kids and there's no way they came up with this," the 47-year-old Deadpool & Wolverine actor joked. "No, his kids are literally the most imaginative -- incredible."

"They're like magical little people," added Reynold's co-star, Cailey Fleming. "So are yours."

"They are actually magic, yeah," Reynolds -- who has three daughters and one child whose sex has not been made public -- agreed. "My kids are obsessed with his kids. They're all friends and they hang out."

The film follows a young girl named Bea (Fleming) who discovers she can see imaginary friends and sets out to reconnect "IFs" with their complementary humans. Reynolds stars as Cal, a man who has the same ability as Bea and helps her on her mission. The Welcome to Wrexham star tells ET he has vivid memories of the story coming to life.

"I remember him pitching this to me in my kitchen," Reynolds shared of Krasinski, adding that he was confused when his friend and collaborator brought the idea to him.

"My response was first like, 'Are you sure you want me? 'Cause, like, most of my movies I'm, you know, stabbing people in the face and swearing," the actor quipped. "And he said yes and I think my answer was really just like getting tears in my eyes 'cause it was such a beautiful story and it was so, you know, so well executed. Even how he pitched it was so beautiful. So I was thrilled."

The pair previously worked together on 2021's Free Guy, directed by Reynolds' frequent associate, Shawn Levy. That film also featured Stranger Things' Joe Keery, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery and Utkarsh Ambudkar. The movie also featured surprise appearances from Chris Evans and Reynolds' bestie, Hugh Jackman.

When it came to this new project, Reynolds said the more appropriate content on this set made it easier to bring his kids around, something he and Lively would do often. "Our kids they were all there all the time," he said.

For his own part, Krasinski -- who spoke with ET in a separate interview -- agreed and said that it was nice to finally get the opportunity to level the playing field with his wife, 41, who has numerous child-appropriate titles under her own belt, not including her Oscar-winning 2023 blockbuster Oppenheimer.

"I don’t think they knew what I did before this movie," he joked. "I think they thought I was an accountant or something because they heard the word 'office' a lot but they had never seen it and they had never seen Quiet Place or Jack Ryan." 

Krasinski added of his wife, "Emily got quite the head start in our house with Mary Poppins [Returns] and Jungle Cruise so on this one, I thought, 'It's gonna be an all-encompassing trip. I'm bringing them on in from the beginning.'"

The movie -- which also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carell, Awkwafina, Matt Damon, George Clooney and Fiona Shaw -- is the most personal project to date for Krasinski, who describes the film as a love letter to his children and to children everywhere. He says to have been so well received by the small army of friends and actors he reached out to initially to participate, well, that's something he will never forget.

"It's extremely emotional because they didn't have to do it, you know what I mean?" he shared. "Everybody jumped in and did a couple lines and I always pitch my movies before anybody reads the script and I pitch them the movie and they didn’t even read the script. They just wrote back, 'Yes,' and I've never had so many yeses so fast."

He continued, "It was both to me a favor -- which I can never pay them back for -- but also because they loved the idea of the movie, the bringing back your childhood and also putting something good into the world."

Watch the trailer for IF in the player below:

IF opens in theaters on May 17.

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