RYAN Reynolds and Rob McElhenney may be the famous faces of Wrexham Football Club, but they are also helped by another big name in the background.
That huge figure is producer and Reynolds’ business partner George Dewey.
Who is George Dewey?
George Dewey is a creative producer and co-founder of Maximum Effort along with Ryan Reynolds.
He began his career at ad agency McCann, where he rose from intern to executive creative director.
He is best known for Free Guy (2021), Welcome to Wrexham (2022) and Spirited (2022).
Does George Dewey own Wrexham A.F.C.?
In September 2020, the club announced it had been approached by two “extremely well-known individuals of high net worth” who wanted to buy it.
It was later revealed that the two stars were Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
The pair bought the club for £2 million in 2021.
Speaking of their decision to buy the club at the time, Reynolds said: “One day Rob sends me an email that outlines his plan to buy a lower-league club and grow it into something more resembling a global force.
“I just thought it was so unexpected and so interesting and I love building businesses and this is a business.”
And that’s exactly what they did with the help of George.
His creative mind has helped the club grow in popularity and many recognised his talent when they saw the unforgettable spoof advert of Reynolds and McElhenney advertising different kinds of rural farm trailers.
It was run soon after they announced their takeover bid had been approved.
The clip received more than 500,000 views in one hour.
To further their exposure, Ryan and George wanted to find a sponsor that would bring in huge commercial value.
“We wanted a brand that really said something,” George said.
The duo decided social media site TikTok was the perfect company to emblazon their shirts.
He continued: “A National League team and a teen dancing app? We thought that would be a statement.
“We try to make content that’s successful to everyone, and everyone should feel free to express their own beliefs.
“But we never want to become a political maelstrom, even though that was harder than we calculated at the start.
“There’s Tory and Labour politics. There’s Wales versus England politics. There’s north versus south politics. We don’t want to enter those waters.”
What other businesses does George Dewey own?
Ryan and George founded the film production and digital marketing company, Maximum Effort in 2018.
George was named president of the company and Reynolds is creative director.
The duo worked on a series of successful low-budget ads to promote the 2016 film and its 2018 sequel – both of which were the highest-grossing R-rated films ever at the time.