First we saw Guy, now we have Dude. In a new promo video for Free Guy, the star Ryan Reynolds has revealed that he plays not one, but two roles in the video game comedy: Guy, the passive NPC character that stars in the film, and Dude, another non-playable character designed by Antwan of Taika Waititi.
It’s clear that Antwan didn’t put much effort on Dude, as his catchphrase seems to be nothing more than that: the word “catchphrase” as filler, because Antwan hasn’t had time to think about anything else. And, in an image in the style of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dude is nothing more than Reynolds’ head incorporated into an incredibly muscular body in a way that seems fake enough to suit the comedy of Free Guy’s satirical style.
In the confessional-style video posted to Reynolds’ Twitter, Dude (or Reynolds as Dude, rather) pushes the limits of his impressive physique in a rather dark and undesirable way. (Not unlike Reynolds’ most famous on-screen character: Deadpool.) Dude seems to be Antwan’s way of preventing Guy from breaking free of his endlessly regenerating non-player character world, with enough muscle to send him off. him and Buddy from Lil Rel Howery to fly with hardly any effort.
The video pokes fun at workout gurus and celebrities who “Increase in volume” for the movies, with Reynolds professing to start each day with a protein bomb of “Human muscle”, and flexing his muscles with every word. The movements CGI of Reynolds’s face are too weird to look real, which makes his comments about the fact that it takes less than a week to get muscular – and pass that physique on to his kids – even more hilarious, especially when they are combined with the large tattoo of a blue polo shirt strategically placed on Dude’s chest.
Combining the confessional with footage from the upcoming film, the video creates a portrait of Dude as a stereotypical model of masculine perfection – after being thrown by one of his punches, Buddy proclaims that “He hits so hard, but his hands are so soft.” And compared to Guy, the ordinary office worker, Dude creates an interesting dichotomy that Reynolds will interpret when “Free Guy” finally hits theaters, after more than a year of delays related to COVID-19.
Free Guy, the story of a man who discovers that his life is nothing more than fodder for an open-world video game, also stars Jodie Comer, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Joe Keery. It is directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn, and executive produced by George Dewey, Scott Elias, Dan Levine, Michael Riley McGrath, and Mary and Josh McLaglen.
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