Ryan Reynolds must have enjoyed working with director Shawn Levy on Free Guy, because the two are now set to team up on a time travel action-comedy, which given Levy’s track record, will no doubt be an effects-heavy blockbuster designed with a family audience in mind.
Now firmly established as one of the biggest movie stars in the world, Reynolds also seems to be making a play to feature in as many big budget projects as possible, and hasn’t starred in anything that cost less than $50 million to produce since 2016’s forgotten action thriller Criminal. While their latest team-up doesn’t have an official title as of yet, the concept has been kicking around Hollywood for close to a decade. In fact, back in 2012, Tom Cruise was circling the idea when it was called Our Name is Adam.
The earliest version of the script came from The Maze Runner’s T.S. Nowlin, but the latest draft will be written by Tim Roth lookalike Jonathan Tropper, who wrote Levy’s 2014 drama This Is Where I Leave You. And at the moment, Reynolds is the only star attached.
Although it seems more than likely that the idea will be undergoing huge revisions, the plot of the spec script follows a 12 year-old kid who’s visited by someone who claims to have come from the future and needs their help to save the world, with the time-traveler in question obviously being an older version of the character. There must’ve been some merit to the concept as well to have Tom Cruise attached at one stage, because the Mission: Impossible star doesn’t just sign up for everything that comes his way.
In any case, should Free Guy turn out to be a huge hit, then the Ryan Reynolds/Shawn Levy partnership will be built on a proven foundation of success, and no doubt the studio will be more than happy to rush another high-concept collaboration between the duo into production as soon as possible.