The Adam Project Director Shares Major Inspirations For New Original Netflix Film

Shawn Levy has a long-running resumé as a director and producer of several successful, original titles over the past couple of decades. However, there’s no debating that Levy has not found a new stride as his name bursts into more households through works on more original titles such as Stranger Things, Free Guy, and The Adam Project. The latter two titles in that trio pair Levy with Ryan Reynolds for a couple of big budget films with no source material or nostalgic resurrections of castings or characters. It’s something Levy prides himself on as a director, taking inspiration from movies which blazed a similar trail many years ago.

“As I’m sure you know, Ryan and I do not take for granted that we’ve been allowed to make back to back big budget, original tent poles in a film culture that rarely, rarely makes them anymore, based on no IP or franchise,” Levy told ComicBook.com in an exclusive interview. “I guess like any director, my film influences, it runs through my veins like cinematic DNA. Certainly Amblin, early Spielberg, Zemeckis, but those influences are varied and you’re absolutely right.” The Adam Project has Jurassic Park, E.T., and Back to the Future in its veins, along with touches of individual personal journeys.

The Adam Project packs an emotional punch as one may surmise from viewing its trailer. Reynolds plays Adam Reed, a time traveler who pays a visit to his younger self (portrayed by Walker Scobell) at a time shortly after his father died unexpectedly. The emotional stakes are baked in as the journey inevitably involves a question of whether or not Reynolds and Scobell’s versions of Adam can spend any more moments with their late father but paying it off called for intense days on set.

“Good Will Hunting is a top 10 movie for me,” Levy said. “The ‘it’s not your fault’ scene is instant legend. It’s a scene and a movie I’ve watched 30 times and we really wanted our movie to culminate with this catharsis where one character is trying to share something emotional with the other, and the other is not capable of taking it in. And as we know in real life, if someone’s not going to take in connection, take in feeling, sometimes you got to hammer them with it. And so, I just said, on that day I said, ‘Mark [Ruffalo], get through to Ryan. Get through to him.’ And Ryan resisted, and the more Ryan resisted Mark went at him and the result is the beautiful emotional scene that ends our movie.”

Ruffalo is cast as a Louis character who was wed to Jennifer Garner’s Ellie prior to his demise. Sadly for those who love the classic comedy, Levy admits he didn’t mean to bring the 13 Going On 30 duo together because of that film. “This sounds idiotic, but no. I realized after the fact,” Levy said. “We had decided on Mark pretty early, then we offered it to Jen. And once I landed Jen, it was Ryan who pointed out, ‘You realize you’ve just unwittingly done a 13 Going On 30 reunion.’ So, that wasn’t the purpose, but I’ll take credit for it.”

Are you excited to see The Adam Project? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! The Adam Project is available on Netflix on March 11.