Ryan Reynolds To Star In Time Travel Film From 'Free Guy' Director Shawn Levy

Looks like Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy enjoyed making Free Guy together, because the actor and director are reuniting to make a time travel adventure movie for Skydance. Get the details below.

According to Heat Vision, Reynolds will star in a movie which was once called Our Name is Adam but is now untitled. The reworked project now follows a man who has to travel back in time to get help from his 13-year old self. Together, they run into their late father, who is now the same age as Reynolds.

That description reminds me a little of the most powerful moment in Richard Curtis's unconventional romance About Time, which I won't openly spoil here. But suffice it to say that I believe Levy, whose directorial efforts are admittedly all over the place, has what it takes to make this an emotional, effective film that scratches the same itch. As for whether or not Reynolds, a guy best known for his wisecracking on-screen personas, can handle that level of emotional heft, seek out movies like Definitely, Maybe or The Nines for proof that he can do more than be a non-stop joke machine.

Levy is one of the producer/directors of Stranger Things and the filmmaker behind Real Steel, Date Night, and the Night at the Museum franchise, and this will be his next directorial effort. The original spec script was written by T.S. Nowlin and made the 2012 Black List (the annual list of Hollywood's favorite unproduced screenplays). Tom Cruise was once attached to star, but he instead went on to make two different sci-fi movies with Oblivion and Edge of Tomorrow. He was reportedly going to play an astronaut, but it's unclear if the lead character's profession changed during the rewrite by Jonathan Topper, who created the TV shows Banshee and Warrior and wrote Levy's 2014 movie This is Where I Leave You.

Levy and Reynolds are set to produce the movie alongside Skydance's David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, and Don Granger, and filming is set to get underway sometime in the fourth quarter of this year, assuming that can be done safely in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Skydance currently has Top Gun: Maverick, two more Mission: Impossible movies, and the Michael B. Jordan spy thriller Without Remorse lined up in their deal with Paramount, and this time travel adventure will presumably be distributed by Paramount also.