Who would you name the Sexiest Man Alive? Ryan Gosling? Brad Pitt? The Blue Wiggle? According to People magazine, the correct answer is the irrepressible Ant-Man himself, Paul Rudd. 

The amiable Hollywood actor was given the honour by the magazine for 2021 this week. At the ripe age of 52, he becomes the oldest winner since Harrison Ford all the way back in 1998.

Rudd spoke to People afterwards and detailed his happiness/bemusement.  “I do have an awareness, enough to know that when people hear that I’d be picked for this, they would say, ‘What?’ This is not false humility. There are so many people that should get this before me.”

He also revealed that he’s expecting “so much grief” from his close friends over the award. “As they should. I would,” he said. “I mean I’m going to lean into it hard. I’m going to own this. I’m not going to try to be like ‘Oh, I’m so modest.’ I’m getting business cards made. But all of my friends will destroy me and I expect them to. And that’s why they’re my friends.”

That “grief” has already arrived, with several of his celebrity mates congratulating him on social media. “No arguments here,” said Seth Rogen. “I knew this day would come,” insisted Mark Ruffalo.

I think the reason Rudd won is his agelessness – the dude just doesn’t seem to age at all, which the internet has famously picked up on before. He looks exactly the same now as he did in Clueless in 1995.

The award could be part of a good month for the actor, with his latest project, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, set for release on November 19th. He also has a dark comedy miniseries for Apple TV+ alongside Will Ferrell (what a pairing that is) debuting on November 12th, The Shrink Next Door.

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Check out the trailer for Ghostbusters: Afterlife:

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