The Adam Project director Shawn Levy sings his praises for Ryan Reynolds' performance in the film. Now available to watch on Netflix, the film sees Reynolds portray the older version of the titular Adam, a time-travelling pilot who teams up with his younger self (Walker Scobell) to save the future after he accidentally lands in the year 2022. Reynolds' latest collaboration with streaming giant Netflix has proven to be a hit for the platform, with The Adam Project having Netflix's third highest debut for an original film. Just within the first week of release, The Adam Project had 92.4 million hours of viewership.
Over the years, Reynolds has become well-known for portraying fast-talking, witty, sarcastic characters. The most famous example is arguably Deadpool, but it's an approach the actor brings to many of his roles. What makes The Adam Project stand out from other Reynolds movies is he's given opportunities to flex his dramatic chops and tug at viewers' heartstrings with some emotional moments. It allowed audiences to see Reynolds in a different light, adding weight and pathos to his performance. His work on the film definitely impressed Levy.
In an interview with Collider, Levy praises both Zoe Saldana and Ryan Reynolds for their work in The Adam Project. He discusses what it was like to see Reynolds perform in a particular scene where Adam drives away from love interest Laura (Saldana). Since Reynolds is mostly known for his comedic roles, Levy notes how special it was to see Reynolds perform a dramatic and raw scene like this, and that Reynolds didn't let him down. See what Levy had to say about the performance here:
I am so loving you right now because you just flagged two of my absolute favorite moments in the movie where we all know, Ryan Reynolds, he's been famous a long time, but man, on that scene, I mounted the camera to the truck and I said, "Ryan, drive away. You're driving away from the only woman you've ever loved," and he just brought it. It's in the kind of scene that we don't see Ryan do every day and it felt special and it felt raw. The same thing, Zoe is staring down her own death. And there's not a line of dialogue, and she plays 17 different emotions as camera slowly pushes in. It's one of Ryan's and my favorite moments too.
Levy seems very impressed with Reynolds' work in The Adam Project, which bodes well for their future collaborations. It's apparent that Reynolds was also proud of this scene, with Levy claiming that it's one of his favourite moments from the film too. It's possible that Levy deliberately cast Reynolds in a role with more dramatic moments in contrast to his typical casting, with Levy taking the chance to mock Reynolds' persona and perhaps trying to defy audience expectations of him.
It will be interesting to see whether Levy will continue to try and bring out an even more dramatic side to Reynolds in their future collaborations after The Adam Project, particularly in Deadpool 3. While Deadpool's character is largely comedic, his backstory is full of tragedy and leaves plenty of room for emotional moments among the humor, which has been glimpsed in the first two films. Levy obviously appreciates the layers to Reynolds' acting beyond his funny and charismatic persona, and with Reynolds' enthusiasm for Levy's Deadpool 3, the pair will probably bring another entertaining entry to the Deadpool franchise.
Source: Collider