The massive success of Deadpool helped establish Ryan Reynolds as a go-to star for adult-oriented blockbusters, but the actor’s last couple of movies have drifted back towards a more family friendly audience. Free Guy and Netflix’s upcoming film The Adam Project (both directed by Shawn Levy) are meant to be enjoyed by both adults and kids, as Reynolds attempts to bring back the Amblin heyday of the 1980s. Films like E.T. and Back to the Future were a couple of Reynolds’ favorite movies growing up, so it makes sense he’s throwing things back to that era, but they weren’t the only movies he watched as a kid. Reynolds definitely saw a few movies he shouldn’t have seen when he was younger, and he’s now taking a few lighthearted jabs at his parents for being allowed to watch them.
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During an appearance on Today to promote The Adam Project, Reynolds joked that his daughters were a lot like him, watching movies you know you’re not supposed to. He was asked about watching R-rated movies as a kid and took the opportunity to throw mom and dad under the bus just a little bit.
“Well the first Rated-R movie I ever saw was Stand By Me, but when you think back you think, ‘How was that Rated-R?!’ It was a Rated-R movie and I was blown away,” Reynolds said. “And then I saw Dune, which I know I shouldn’t have seen at like, five [years old]….Absolute failures as parents. This is parenting fail 101.”
Jokes aside, Reynolds has fond memories of watching films like Back to the Future with his late father, a feeling he wants to give young families now with The Adam Project.
“I loved that Netflix positioned The Adam Project like that. They love the movie the way we love the movie,” Reynolds told The Hollywood Reporter, speaking about Netflix’s big Super Bowl movie ad. “It’s been such a labor of love for myself and Shawn Levy from the jump. I’m grateful that Netflix has a commitment to making movies like this, original stories based on nothing more than an idea, and we get to bring them to life. Especially films with this tone that – and I say this in a good way – is a little bit old-fashioned with an ’80s wish-fulfillment, meaning something amazing or even supernatural happens to a kid but he’s home by dinner, and his parents have no clue. It’s a type of old-school, warm and nostalgic filmmaking that I love.”
The Adam Project arrives on Netflix on Friday, March 11th.
