“We initially started out very photoreal and we found that you couldn’t separate what was on the monitor from the live action,” said Gillberg. Whereas the movie might be more ‘GTA’-inspired, the look of the gameplay hews closer to ‘Fortnite’ in its aesthetic and level of stylization than any other video game reference.” The gameplay “was the hardest,” said Levy. “And life there is a little bit confusing and depressing.”

“There’s five different shades of gray and it’s very murky,” Tobman explained. So the real world was shot using frame obfuscation, anamorphic lenses, messier compositions, awkward reflections and perpetual rain. “We wanted to create really specific rules so that you knew from the first frame of one that you were no longer in the other,” said Tobman. On the other hand, the real world was depicted with a more restricted palette and different camera formats, lenses and operating styles. Let’s make a new ‘Truman Show,’ a movie about personal awareness and empowerment and the very relatable notion that you can live in the background or you can step forward to be seen and effect change.’” “I said, ‘Why are you calling me? I’m not a hardcore gamer.’ Ryan says ‘ take a video game premise but make a movie that is not just for gamers.

“I didn’t tell Ryan that I had already read it,” Levy said. Years later, Ryan Reynolds reached out to the “Night at the Museum” director after he received the script, without knowing Levy had previously been considered to helm it. “I think I read about a third of the script and said, ‘You know what? This should probably be some hardcore gamer that you get to direct it,’” Levy told The Times over Zoom. The film, which stars Ryan Reynolds as Guy, a non-playable video game character who discovers a new zest for life after falling for a gamer named Molotov Girl (“Killing Eve” star Jodie Comer), takes place mostly in Free City, a place not unlike the lawless, hyper-violent San Andreas of the “Grand Theft Auto” games. Shawn Levy turned down “Free Guy” the first time he was approached to direct it.

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