When Free Guy arrives in theaters on August 13, the action-comedy will ask audiences to look at video games in a whole different light. Not only will beleaguered NPCs like Ryan Reynolds’ Guy take on sentient life of their own, but the underside of IP theft is creatively explored as well.
To increase the connection with the gaming world, director Shawn Levy brought on real-life streamers such as Jacksepticeye (Seán McLoughlin) and DanTDM (Daniel Middleton) to cameo in the film. They spoke to Screen Rant about their newfound appreciation for NPCs, favorite video game adaptations, and top scenes from the movie.
Screen Rant: Jacksepticeye, we're gonna start with you. Does Free Guy affect the way that you perceive NPCs at all?
Jacksepticeye: Yeah. They're all Ryan Reynolds in my head now, so I've fallen in love with every single one of them.
You kind of do that in a lot of games, anyway. Some games have ridiculously good NPCs; some games have non-playable characters that you wish were fully-fledged characters. Some game studios are fantastic at doing that, and I think that this movie represents that well: those few really lovable characters that you want to get to know more of.
But as far as how I train NPCs, I still just kill them all. It's the video gamer in me. I just want to go through it and see what happens. I want to break the game.
Dan, despite the uniqueness of your career path, what's it been like to be in a 20th Century Fox movie, essentially as avatars of humanity watching A.I. being developed before your eyes?
DanTDM: It's really interesting because it's kind of what we do almost every day anyway. It's a shame that we didn't get the full Hollywood experience, I guess - because we literally filmed on the same equipment, the same mics, and almost the same room that we're using now. So, it almost wasn't any different [than] recording a normal video.
But then having that scale up to being in a Hollywood movie, fully credited, your face in it - as yourself as well - is a really great opportunity. I'm so humbled to be asked, for sure.
Without giving any spoilers away, what was your favorite scene in Free Guy?
Jacksepticeye: Oh, there's some stuff towards the end that they've been teasing here and there in some of the promotional stuff that I think people are going to get a real kick out of. When stuff all comes to a head at the end of it, I think there's some really fun moments. There's a couple of jokes in there that really had me chuckling along to it, so I can't wait to see people's reactions to that.
And I think that's where we all back-to-back show up as well. It's almost everyone in the movie coming together right at the end.
DanTDM: Yeah, some of those end bits: the cameos and the jokes are just hilarious. It almost caricatures itself. It's great.
But I really love the character [of] Buddy, Ryan Reynolds' best friend. Some of the things he comes out with - he's a bit skeptical of what he does, but the dynamic between those is hilarious.
Did this film cause you to question or change the way you guys approach any games?
Jacksepticeye: I don't think so. I mean, it is kind of cool to poke at it and see it from a completely different angle. I'm the kind of person that pokes at every aspect of a game anyway. I'll go through it and break it 10 different times, and go over and see, "Well, do these shadows work on this? Can I leave footprints in the sand?" I look under the hood of the games a lot because I'm always fascinated by how they work.
And I think that this has a fun element of that because you're breaking the boundaries of what the game is allowing you to do and seeing the real-life characters react to that. That's kind of my wheelhouse, so I love seeing that.
Dan, what has been your favorite video game adaptation and why?
DanTDM: I don't know if I've seen all of them. But I actually really love Wreck-It Ralph. I know I'm biased because I was in it, but the amount of references in the first and the second one is almost like the biggest collab of all time. I think they even fit like Fortnite in the second one. Sonic's in the first one, and Mario.
I think that, up to the music, every detail as a gamer I just absolutely love. So, I'm gonna say that.
Jack, what do you think about the plot of a big corporation stealing the work of an independent game creator? How accurately does that story play out in your world?
Jacksepticeye: Oh, man. Are you asking me to get political here? I'll tell you what. See, we experience the industry from a different perspective, I think. I don't really know what goes on behind doors and how games are made. I think it's a miracle they get made at all; the amount of coding and stuff that goes into those, I have no idea how people do it.
But I'm sure that happens - I think it happens with every industry. There's always going to be something like that going on. But I think, thankfully, we live in a world where most game companies - especially in the indie scene, and the lower end scene where it's not all about money all the time - are really pushing the boundaries and really bringing the medium forward, and being some of the most accepting and loving and passionate people in any sort of form of entertainment.
I think there's some games that tackled some issues really well. You have games like Celeste that talk about mental health; you have games like Undertale that have character choice stuff, and do narrative better than most others. And they're all made by tiny teams, but they're just people who really love making games- and I love seeing that. Whether people steal other's work, I have no idea.
