Major spoilers for IF are ahead. If you haven’t seen the movie, you can check it out in theaters now.
When I attended my screening of John Krasinski’s IF, I was taking lots of notes in preparation for the junket and to write our review for this film about imaginary friends. In those notes, I made sure to scribble down little details I picked up on that pointed to similarities between Cailey Fleming’s Bea and Ryan Reynolds’ Cal because I knew there had to be a greater meaning behind them.
Well, there was. In the end, Cal ended up being Bea’s IF. Moments like them turning the page the same way during the interviews (which was a great scene that also included Cosmo hilariously attacking Cal) helped hint at his true identity throughout the movie. So, when I interviewed Cailey Fleming, I asked her about these parallels between her character and Ryan Reynolds’ man upstairs, and she got very excited as she said:
I’m so glad you caught that. Yeah, that was definitely intentional. John came up with a lot of those. There's a lot of little hints throughout the movie.
Fleming then went on to break down some of the Easter eggs throughout the film that point to Cal’s true identity. She started by telling me about references to Reynolds’ character in Bea’s personal life. Noting a bookmark and a book that both reference the friendly clown, the actress told me:
There's the bookmark out of the book and the hospital. Whenever I'm going through the closet, there's a little book that says Calvin on it. There's so many little hints like that.
Like a lot of details in IF – like Louis Gossett Jr.’s personal connection to his character – these moments are intentional and meaningful. Cailey Fleming explained that Krasinski added them on purpose, and there were even accidental natural parallels between her and the Deadpool actor that ended up staying in the movie to help hint at the idea that he was her IF:
The page for the interviews was definitely on purpose. And I remember the first time we shot the train scene, we were sitting the same way but that was not planned. That just kind of happened naturally, which was kind of freaky, but it was a great way to start the film which was just really cool.
She also told me that Bea and Cal’s wardrobe “kind of reflects each other.” Which I clocked as well. They wear similar colors and patterns, and it becomes obvious that these two have some sort of deep connection, which is revealed at the end of the film.
While the IF cast is stacked, and it’s fun to watch all the animated characters, at the heart of this film is the friendship between Cailey Fleming and Ryan Reynolds’ characters. Ultimately, these little details that allude to their past and point out that he’s her IF help illuminate that and make the ending of the movie even sweeter.
If you are looking to go back to see all these fun details for yourself, it’s your lucky day, because IF recently premiered on the 2024 movie schedule, which means it’s still playing in theaters.
