The actor touted the film as a modern-day ‘Back to the Future’ and called it his favorite movie he has ever made: «that means a lot to me because I made ‘Deadpool.'»
by Graeme McMillan, Aaron Couch
Ryan Reynolds was received in style Saturday at Comic Con Experience, the Brazilian convention taking place in São Paulo. Fans gave him a standing ovation and chanted his name as he entered the convention to debut the first trailer for Free Guy.
«We really wanted to bring to the world a modern day Back to the Future for modern generations,» Reynolds told the crowd. He went on to cite Back to the Future filmmaker Robert Zemeckis as an influence, and also named Will Ferrell’s work in Elf and Petter Sellers in Being There as an inspiration for his Free Guy character.
The film from director Shawn Levy centers on a man named Guy (Reynolds) who discovers he is actually an NPC (nonplayable character) living inside a video game. The film also stars Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Stranger Things’ Joe Keery and Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer. Free Guy doesn’t take place entirely inside the video game world of Free City, as Ambudkar, Keery and Comer play real-world people who also have video game avatars.
«The movie is about the rise of an idealist in a cynical world,» said Levy, who also showed off footage the team previously brought to New York Comic Con in October. The audience had an enthusiastic response to that footage.
Then came the trailer, which received another standing ovation.
«If you like it, we’re going to go backstage and hit a button and make it live on the Internet,» said Levy. «If you don’t, we’re going to have to reassess a lot of things.»
At one point during the presentation, Levy had to ask the audience if they could hear, as the audio was partially drowned out by the sounds outside the room. The crowed responded yes, and the show went on.
«Free Guy is my favorite movie I’ve ever made, and that means a lot to me because I made Deadpool,» said Reynolds.
Disney and 20th Century Fox open Free Guy on July 3, 2020.
