Video games are littered with drones, mindless characters in the background known as NPCs, a non-player character. But what if one of those NPCs gained agency all of a sudden, had a voice, and became free of the constraints and limitations of background slavery? That’s the premise, essentially of “Free Guy,” a new high-concept, hi-tech science-fiction action-comedy from director Shawn Levy (The “Night at the Museum” series, and “Stranger Things”) starring Ryan Reynolds.
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So, in the fictional open-world video game “Free City,” a mashup between “Grand Theft Auto” and “Fortnite,” Guy (Reynolds) is a non-player character (NPC) working as a bank teller. But a group of developers free Guy, once he’s aware of his world being a video game, things change. The unconventional story of a lonely bank teller who discovers he is actually a background character in the brutal open-world videogame morphs into a story of taking control of one’s own life.
Once a 20th Century Fox film, “Free Guy” is now under the Disney banner and 20th Century Studios. The film stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer (“Killing Eve”) Joe Keery (“Stranger Things”), Lil Rel Howery (“Get Out”), Utkarsh Ambudkar (“The Broken Hearts Gallery”) and Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”).
In “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi, “Free Guy” is directed by Shawn Levy from a story by Matt Lieberman and a screenplay by Lieberman and Zak Penn. The film is produced by Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and Adam Kolbrenner with Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, George Dewey, Dan Levine, and Michael Riley McGrath serving as executive producers.
The film was once scheduled for a summer 2020 release, but that little thing called the pandemic royally f*cked that up. “Free Guy” is now scheduled for a December 11, 2020, release. Maybe. Probably, and as you can tell by this new teaser trailer, beneath the official trailer, the actors and studio aren’t shying away from having a laugh at themselves, and the uncertainty that will still surround a potential release within the 2020 calendar year.