Although theDeadpoolfranchise has becomeRyan Reynolds’ bread and butter, he’s still getting out there and doing roles that don’t require him to dress in red-and-black spandex.THRreports that the actor has signed on to star in the sci-fi action comedyFree Guyfor directorShawn Levy. The script, written byMatt Lieberman, “centers on a background character who realizes he’s living in a video game. With the help of an avatar, he tries to prevent the makers of the game from shutting down his world.”
While it sounds like there’s a little bit ofWreck-It Ralphin there, it’s still a fun concept for a movie, and we’ve seen that the best video game movies aren’t the ones based on specific video games, but the ones that using gaming concepts to tell their story like inEdge of TomorrowandJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
Reynolds and Levy will also produce alongsideGreg BerlantiandSarah Schechteras well asAdam Kolbrenner. Reynolds is keeping busy not just withDeadpoolprojects, but he’s also starringMichael Bay’s Netflix movie6 Underground, and he’s producing an R-rated riff onHome AlonecalledStoned Alone. Reynolds will next be seen as Deadpool this December in arecut version ofDeadpool 2.
As for Levy, he’s always keeping busy as a producer, but surprisingly, the last feature film he directed was 2014’sNight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb. Since then, he’s largely kept to television, directing episodes ofUnbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,Imaginary Mary, and, of course, the hit Netflix series,Stranger Things, on which he also serves as a producer. Levy is also attached to direct the adaptation of the popular video game seriesUncharted, but that project has been stuck in development hell forever, and it seems destined to stay there for the foreseeable future.
