The Major Changes Ryan Reynolds Made To The Free Guy Script
A-list movie stars regularly get input on the scripts for the movies they star in. And sometimes, a star's input can elevate a story to the next level. According to screenwriter Matt Lieberman, that was the case with "Free Guy" and its star, Ryan Reynolds.
In "Free Guy," Ryan Reynolds plays Guy, a non-playable character in a popular open world video game called "Free City." Guy slowly realizes that his reality is entirely virtually created. When he discovers that the game's creator, Antwan (Taika Waititi), is trying to monetize the game by steering it in a violent direction, Guy teams up with Molotov Girl (Jodie Comer), the coder who initially created Free City, to take control of the city by completing missions peacefully.
Since premiering in theaters on August 13, "Free Guy" has earned some strong reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a solid 82% critics score, and did even better among the fans, with 95%.
Some of the credit is definitely due to the strong script. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, here's what Lieberman said about Ryan Reynolds's input in the writing process.
If it weren't for Ryan Reynolds, Free Guy might have had a different tone
Lieberman and Reynolds wrote a draft of "Free Guy" together, and Lieberman pointed to two major contributions from Reynolds. First, Reynolds encouraged Guy to have a more positive outlook on life at the beginning of the movie. "[Reynolds'] biggest note was, in the original script Guy was a cynical character. He started in a cynical place. 'Why do we put up with this?'" Lieberman explained. "And he was like, 'Guy should be happy where he is.' It really gave the character a much bigger arc. A further place to go. He had a lot of great ideas. It wasn't just that."
Reynolds' second big idea was to give Guy a roided-out nemesis named Dude, and a showdown between the two characters at the end. "[Guy]'s got to face off against a 2.0 version of himself at the end," Lieberman said. "It was still Guy facing off against Antwan and the programmers, but it was [Reynolds's] idea to drop in this hilarious character."
"Free Guy" will be exclusively in theaters for 45 days after its premiere date before it's available for home viewing (via Variety).