Free Guy Director Reveals How Those Disney Elements Came Into Play (Spoilers)

Free Guy was finally released this week, and it’s been an interesting journey. Not only was the Ryan Reynolds-led film one of the many films that suffered from pandemic delays, but it was put in an interesting position during the Fox/Disney merger. The movie was greenlit as a Fox property, but things changed a bit once Disney got involved. One perk of this move is the fact that Free Guy got to feature some fun Disney elements. Warning: Free Guy Spoilers Ahead! During the movie, Reynolds plays Guy, an NPC in a multiplayer game world who starts to realize he can affect the world and the people in it. During a big fight towards the end of the film, Guy is able to pull out some big Disney weapons, like Captain America’s shield and a Jedi’s lightsaber. During a recent chat with director Shawn Levy, ComicBook.com’s Brandon Davis asked how those elements came to be and if they were always a part of the plan.

“No, and thank you for dancing around the spoilers. I appreciate it, man. So we had this movie. We were a Fox movie. While we were making it, Disney bought Fox. And suddenly, Ryan and I, we’re getting ready to shoot the third act of the movie, and the whole point is Ryan’s character now has greater abilities, and we’re like, ‘Well, wouldn’t it be cool if Disney let us play with one of those toys in its chest?’ So we literally wrote an email to the kings of Disney. And we said, ‘Hey, could we maybe have one of these toys to play within our little movie Free Guy?’ And to our astonishment, they said yes. And we’re like, ‘Yes to which?’ And they said, ‘Yes to all.’ And that led to the third act of Free Guy,” Levy shared.

Not only does Free Guy feature some fun easter eggs, but it also has some exciting cameos. There are some appearances you would have noticed, for example, Chris Evans, who is seen towards the end of the film reacting to Guy using Cap’s shield. However, there are some other subtle appearances that may have passed you by. During a recent press conference with Reynolds, ComicBook.com asked about Evans’ cameo and Reynolds talked about getting some big names to appear in the film.

“The thing I will always… There’s so much that’s been written about the film industry and show business in Hollywood and so much… You read so many things that are just so utterly terrible about that industry and the people in it. Largely true. But there is actually a community there that is real. And there are a lot of people within that community that are wonderful. And the thing I’ll never take for granted is the idea that you can be shooting a movie that big, like Free Guy, and call someone up and just be like, ‘Is there any way you’d maybe jump in and do this little cameo?’ Chris [Evans] happened to live in Boston was like, ‘I’ll be there in five minutes,’” Reynolds shared.

“And then there’s a whole bunch of other cameos you might not have noticed. Hugh Jackman‘s in there. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s in there. John Krasinski‘s in there. Who am I leaving out? Hugh Jackman. That guy. Little cameos here and there. And another cameo, which was one of my favorites, is Jodie Comer, who is singing ‘Fantasy’ in the third act of the movie. There’s this moment in the movie where you hear this really ethereal, beautiful voice come in covering Mariah Carey’s ‘Fantasy’ in a downtempo way. That was Jodie, who was at the last second… I remember texting her. I was like, ‘Would you ever be open to singing the song in the movie?’ And she was just like, ‘Yep. I’m in.’ And she went and did it. It was great.”

Free Guy is now playing in theatres.