Ryan Reynolds' Free Guy is playing in theatres.
Imagine discovering that the world you inhabit is actually a video game with you as one of the many characters that populate it? That's what happens to Ryan Reynolds in his new film Free Guy in which he plays two roles - the eponymous Guy, a non-player character in a video game who becomes self-aware, and his own hilarious adversary named Dude. Ryan Reynolds, also hilarious in real life, spoke to NDTV's Rohit Khilnani about Free Guy, why he became a producer, making his daughter proud, mock-frenemy Hugh Jackman and alternate realities.
NDTV: The last time we met, we discussed that your daughter was telling everyone her dad is Deadpool, then you fixed it by doing Pikachu. Now she will tell everyone that her dad is Free Guy, are you proud of that?
Ryan Reynolds: Yes, actually I am. When she tells them about Deadpool, they don't believe her. When she tells them I'm Pikachu, they think she's crazy. Free Guy is much more sensible, she's gonna get away with that one.
NDTV: Hugh Jackman told me that through his character, if he could put you in a chamber, he would like to find out your past. If you could put him in your movie, Free Guy, which character would he be?
Ryan Reynolds: Well, spoiler alert, Hugh Jackman is in this movie....
NDTV: I didn't say that!
Ryan Reynolds: I don't mind, I'll give some spoilers away. You know, if he could play anyone, I think he would probably be a good villain. You know, Taika (Waititi) obviously is irreplaceable but Hugh hasn't played a lot of villains in his life. He has done a few but this one would be pretty fun I think.
NDTV: Everyone tells me that you think like a producer. What has made you think like a producer?
Ryan Reynolds: I think necessity is the mother of invention. I think that I became a writer and a producer to stay alive, I mean, I literally did it out of pure fear of failure. Sometimes I just had to do it to get by and I think it just made me think of things a little bit more in the macro sense. I understand schedules and understand physical production, which is its own unique kind of complex matrix on a set and I love storytelling. As a producer, you want to make sure that you're always telling a story, so I'm good at letting go of myself. I am good at looking at me as like one of the many elements that we need to work on for the movie. Even in the editing room, I refer to my character's name, not as me because I could say, like, oh man, he sucks at that moment, let's cut that moment out and it doesn't make it personal, doesn't make it weird, it's just... And then if I do it enough then Shawn (Levy, director of Free Guy) will also do it and he won't feel weird.
NDTV: A serious question to you - what if one day you find out that this is real?
Ryan Reynolds: It certainly has crossed my mind. In the last few years, there are so many weird things that have happened. You gotta wonder, like, is this a big joke? How could this possibly be the real world that we live in? So yes, it's a question I've asked myself a few times but I don't want to go down that rabbit hole too deep. I just want to try to enjoy my time when I'm playing this game.
NDTV: I can safely tell the audience that I've watched the movie and it's really entertaining, thank you for entertaining us.
Ryan Reynolds: I so appreciate that it was really nice to see you.
Free Guy co-stars Taika Waititi, Jodie Comer and Utkarsh Ambudkar; it is now playing in theatres.