Free Guy, out in theaters on August 13, stars Ryan Reynolds as the world’s most fascinating NPC. But he’s not the only denizen of Free City that’s worthy of viewer attention. His best friend Buddy (Lil Rel Howery) also makes his presence known throughout the film.
Howery spoke to Screen Rant about bringing out the childlike innocence in Buddy, collaborating with director Shawn Levy, and his own sunglasses-inspired aspirations.
Screen Rant: When you read the original script, what jumped out at you, and how much of that changed along the way?
Lil Rel Howery: A lot of it didn't change from the first script. But it's a creative process, so Ryan and Shawn were always redoing things and rewriting things.
But what I loved about it, honestly was the heart of it. Outside of an opportunity to work with Ryan Reynolds, one of the things me and Shawn Levy talked about was that there was so much heart in it. I like doing stuff with heart in it - I don't know if anybody has noticed a pattern of heartfelt moments I have in most of my films, but all the movies I love have that in it. I just love that, and then I love how it had all these different genres in it. You got comedy, you got romance, you got action in it.
And I don't know if you could have cast this movie better. It's so interesting. When you read a script, it's one thing - but then when you see it? Jodie [Comer] is so good in it; the way she switches back in and out of both worlds. It's just fascinating. This was a great cast, man. Everybody... I can go down the line, but I was impressed by a lot. And it comes from the leadership. Ryan Reynolds is a great, dope leader who's very creative. He's just dope.
Buddy's one of the most genuine characters in the film. How did you incorporate that into your performance, and what did you want to bring to Buddy that wasn't necessarily on the page?
Lil Rel Howery: Shawn was saying to me a lot of the time - especially before we started - to just play it innocent. You got to play Buddy like he doesn't know. He just sees it for what it is; that's all he knows, and he's okay with it. He's okay, that's all he knows. He don't need to know anything else.
And I think that innocence is [even in] me and Guy's friendship. It just is innocence. Shawn was like, "You've got to play it innocent," and even when I rewatch it now - because it's so crazy, I do these different characters - I'm like, "Yeah, I had to get in an innocent place with this one." Which was good too, because it was like a dad set. I had my kids on set, Ryan has his daughters, and Shawn's daughter is in the movie.
The innocence actually helped me - not necessarily do my children better, but in a way, yeah. That was one of our funnest summers, just because it was very imaginative and very innocent. A lot of times, you play these characters and kind of start living it. So, I had to walk around with this innocence on me for the summer, and that's what it was.
If Buddy got the glasses instead of Guy, what would be the difference?
Lil Rel Howery: You know what I think Buddy may do? It's very interesting. I think Buddy would have bought some extra coffee or something. I love when Guy discovers that he's getting money now, and he's figured out how to do that.
I also wonder if Buddy, even though he was a good person, would he have done all the stuff Guy did? I don't know if Buddy would have [done] that. Buddy would get an extra cup of coffee, one car, and would've just been driving around.
