FREE GUY

DIRECTOR SHAWN LEVY was understandably disappointed when the release date for Free Guy , his Truman-Show -meets- Grand-Theft-Auto popcorn flick, moved from July all the way to December. But, he admits, “In the spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, I’m using that time to hone the movie in ways that I wouldn’t normally have had time to.” Luckily, his new film couldn’t be more audacious — visually or thematically.

Ryan Reynolds. “Players do missions for money, points, and rewards,” Levy explains. “Bank robberies, muggings, carjackings, it’s pure anarchy.” But one day, blinkered, naive Guy is granted the ability to see the world for what it really is, and though it spurs an existential crisis when he realises his entire existence is a fabrication, he is urged to try to be a good person within a world full of evil. “He starts to question it: why does a world have to be based on doing things that are illegal and wrong?” says Levy. So Guy, in a move that would horrify Wade Wilson, vows to do good, and finds himself levelling up and gaining EXP (‘experience points’) despite defying the laws of the game.