Ryan Reynolds recently headlined Michael Bay’s 6 Underground, in what was the first major streaming project for either of the two. The $150 million action blockbuster may have suffered from the same kind of lukewarm critical response that greets all of the latter’s output, but it nonetheless proved to be a huge hit for Netflix, with over 80 million people watching it in a matter of weeks.
The Deadpool star must have enjoyed his experience working for the company seeing that he almost immediately signed on to star in another big budget Netflix spectacular, and this one promises to be even bigger. Red Notice sees Central Intelligence and Skyscraper director Rawson Marshall Thurber re-team with leading man Dwayne Johnson in what could very well be the streaming service’s most high-profile original movie yet, a $200 million globe-trotting heist flick led by three of the biggest names in the business thanks to Johnson, Reynolds and Wonder Woman’s Gal Gadot.
The production is currently on hiatus as the industry awaits the go-ahead to return to normal in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, and despite being six weeks into shooting, Reynolds recently admitted that they probably don’t have as much footage in the can as they would like, because his focus was on trying to get his co-star to crack up during takes.
In a new interview, Johnson echoed these sentiments and admitted that he struggled to keep it together when it came to filming scenes with his Hobbs & Shaw cast-mate, with more than a few takes being ruined in the process.
“A lot of the first six weeks of the movie was just Ryan and I. Man, I’d like to think that I’m a professional and I’m disciplined. Oh my god, I never laughed so hard. It got to a point where he would say something, and then I would say something, and then he would say it in a way he knew that I liked, which is actually needling me when the camera is on me. I was bent over so hard laughing at him. But you know what, we had the best time.”
It certainly appears as though Johnson and Reynolds were having a great time before the plug was temporarily pulled on Red Notice, and hopefully their infectious enthusiasm translates to the screen, because on paper, the movie has all of the ingredients to be another hugely successful Netflix blockbuster.