ready player fun

Ryan Reynolds promises plenty of heart, laughs and action in his new sci-fi comedy set in an open-world game. Total Film talks to him and his co-stars to find out why free guy is the big screen movie we’re not only going want after lockdown... it’s the movie we’ll need.

- JANE CROWTHER

like most of us in these self-isolation times, Ryan Reynolds – locked down in Pound Ridge, New York – has been craving the communal, convivial atmosphere of watching a huge movie on a huge screen with a huge crowd. He’s been looking at footage on Twitter of fans watching key scenes in Avengers: Endgame, hyped together, cheering and whooping with elation through mic-drop dramatic moments. You’ve probably also watched it with an ache for popcorn in hand, enveloped by darkness, the charge of collective expectation in the air. “Maybe I’m emotional because of everything that’s going on in the world, but I was sobbing this morning watching that. That is some of the most beautiful, big-budget action filmmaking that I’ve ever seen. That’s one thing I’m really looking forward to, and that I really miss – being in a movie theatre and watching a movie that way. It’s a unique experience.”