Classic Movies and Having Kids Inspired Ryan Reynolds in The Adam Project

The Adam Project, Netflix’s latest film which is getting positive marks on RottenTomatoes, promises to pack and emotional punch when Ryan Reynolds plays a time traveler who visits his younger self in an era where his (their?) father has recently died unexpectedly. The film evokes plenty of family-dynamics and emotions through an adventurous, ambitious original tale peppered with sci-fi elements throughout. It’s not unlike the early Amblin films, such as Jurassic Park, E.T., or Back to the Future in those regards. As it turns out, Reynolds and The Adam Project‘s team were heavily inspired by those films which they loved growing up, along with some of their own personal experiences.

While talking to ComicBook.com, Reynolds opened up about how having a family and kids of his own informed some of the inspiration for his work as The Adam Project‘s Adam Reed. “Having kids is a fresh hell, isn’t it? It definitely did,” Reynolds said, referencing the film’s ability to showcase a parent and their child’s relationship through both lenses. “God, it made me more introspective than anything else. I’ll tell you that much. Having kids sort of changed everything for me. It really changed and made me appreciate my parents.”

In fact, Reynolds admitted to having experienced first hand what The Adam Project tells its audience about that dynamic. “I noticed that from my own kids, is that kids take parents for granted as they should because that’s something that is well within their rights,” he said. “But once you have kids, you realize that, my God, the sacrifices my parents made, the sacrifices for their own convenience and happiness and you name it… It was all for us. And there’s a real appreciation that comes from that, a real, real evaluation as well, so.”

The younger version of Reynolds’ Adam character is portrayed by Walker Scobell, a superstar-in-the-making who makes his movie debut with The Adam Project. At 13-years-old, Scobell still does have an appreciation for the movies which came before the project which served as inspiration for Reynolds, director Shawn Levy, and the film’s creatives. “I watch them all the time,” he said. “I watched Back to the Future on the airplane to the reshoots. Back to the Future II is the best one.” Reynolds, always having a finger on the pulse of the fans, joked back that Scobell was about to start a fire on the Internet with such a pick.

“The DNA of those movies was everything,” Reynolds said. “I mean, they informed every decision we made on this movie. Both Shawn Levy and I were lucky enough to have a really amazing work marriage. We did Free Guy together and now Adam Project. What we loved about those movies was there are these giant action, adventure comedy wish fulfillment premises that are quite high concept, but then unafraid of emotion. They don’t really pander to kids. They don’t really pander to adults. I remember watching Back to the Future with my dad, and it was like, he was as blown away by it as I was. We really wanted that kind of feeling in this and that sort of early Amblin eighties era filmmaking. I mean, man, that is an indelible mark that’s been left on both me and Shawn Levy. And I think a lot of other people too, probably yourself included. Those are huge movies for us.”

Are you excited for The Adam Project? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram! ComicBook.com’s full interview with Reynolds can be seen in the video above or on our YouTube channel! The Adam Project releases on Netflix on March 11.