Taika Waititi And Utkarsh Ambudkar have joined Ryan Reynolds in the cast of ‘Free Guy’, a comedy in which Reynolds’ character, a mild-mannered bank teller, discovers that he is an NPC in a video game. ‘Stranger Things” Shawn Levy is directing, with a script by Matt Lieberman (‘The Christmas Chronicles’) and Zak Penn (‘Ready Player One’). Levy walked away from Sony’s ‘Uncharted’ movie (ironically, based on a real video game series) in order to tackle this project. Similarly, this will be Reynolds’ next picture, following the upcoming ‘Detective Pikachu’, another video game movie.
RELATED: Ryan Reynolds And ‘Stranger Things” Shawn Levy Team Up For Video Game Comedy ‘Free Guy’
Reynolds and Waititi previously costarred in the poorly-received ‘Green Lantern’. While Reynolds portrayed the titular super jewellery enthusiast, Waititi portrayed his roommate Thomas Kalmaku.
The cast of ‘Free Guy’ also includes Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, and Lil Rel Howery. Keery and Levy are obviously well-acquainted, as Keery plays Steve Harrington on ‘Stranger Things’. Comer stars on the current hit series ‘Killing Eve’. Howery stars on his own series on FOX, ‘Rel’, and appeared last year in ‘Tag’ and ‘Bird Box’.
‘Free Guy’ hails from 20th Century Fox and 21 Laps Entertainment.
Waititi is known more for his directing work, having helmed the crowd-pleaser ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ in 2017. His new FX series, ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ is based on his 2014 film of the same name, which he co-directed with Jemaine Clement. He directed an episode of Disney+’s upcoming ‘Star Wars’ series ‘The Mandalorian‘, and will provide the voice of robotic bounty hunter IG-88. He is also tackling the upcoming Apple TV+ series ‘Time Bandits’. His next film, ‘Jojo Rabbit’, a World War II comedy, is due later this year.
Ambudkar was last seen in the acclaimed indie ‘Brittany Runs a Marathon’. He may also be recognized from ‘The Mindy Project’, ‘White Famous’, ‘Bartlett’, and ‘Brockmire’. His voice can be heard on Netflix’s ‘Harvey Street Kids’.
Check back for updates on ‘Free Guy’ as they emerge.
Source: Deadline
