If Ryan Reynolds is not credited with the screenplay of Free Guy, he still made a difference, as screenwriter Matt Lieberman revealed. The actor notably had an idea that changed the tone of the film.
In theaters since August 11, the action comedy by Shawn Levy in which Ryan Reynolds plays a man who realizes he is only an extra in a video game and decides to become the hero of his own story has seduced critics and the public.
But the actor didn’t just star in the feature film, he was also involved in its development. Interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Lieberman, who wrote the first version of the Free Guy screenplay in 2016, said the project got a big boost once Ryan Reynolds was attached to it.
The screenwriter and the actor then reviewed the script of the film together. “He’s a great screenwriter. And he’s a smart producer. He was interested in things as a screenwriter, an actor and as the person who had to sell all those lines and scenes.”, Recalls Lieberman.
And to reveal the biggest change initiated by the star:
In the original screenplay Guy was a cynical character. (…) And [Ryan Reynolds] said: ‘Guy should be happy where he is’. It gave the character a much more interesting arc. Another place to go. He had a lot of good ideas. It wasn’t just that.
Matt Lieberman also shared the “second big idea”From Ryan Reynolds: the character of Dude, an“ improved ”version of the hero. “He had the idea to make Guy happy and have him face a 2.0 version of himself at the end. It was always Guy taking on Antwan (Taika Waititi) and the programmers, but he was the one who came up with the idea to introduce this hilarious character.”, Says the screenwriter.
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For his part, Ryan Reynolds let it be known in a Story posted on Instagram that his wife, actress Blake Lively, had also contributed to the creation of the feature film:
Free Guy wouldn’t be the movie it is without Blake Lively. She was essential in every part of making this movie, creatively and emotionally, and the cameo everyone is talking about was entirely her idea.
The cameo in question being of course that of Chris Evans, Captain America himself, which appears at a key moment in Free Guy.
This is not the first time that the actor has highlighted the work of his wife on his feature films. Earlier this month, at the SiriusXM microphone, he had already assured: “I write a lot about my films, it’s been a survival mechanism for me for a long time. Sometimes I’m credited, sometimes not. But there are a lot of good things that I wrote that are actually from Blake.”
And to add: “She helped me a lot on Deadpool and on a lot of movies that were big hits”. Then to specify: “Maybe it’s because there is sexism in this business but I have often said ‘She wrote this, Blake wrote it, not me. It was her ‘. And, later, the story is repeated as if I had written it.”
The trailer for Deadpool 2, film to which Ryan Reynolds is credited in the credits:
