While fads come and go, there are certain trends that never go out of style. For the 1990's this definitely includes Nintendo's Pokemon franchise. The video game turned anime and card game swept 90s kids when they first hit the states, and Pokemon has been passed down across the generations in the decades since. There have been plenty of animated Pokemon movies that continue Ash Ketchum's journey from the TV series, but the property is breaking new ground with Detective Pikachu. With Ryan Reynolds voicing the title character, Detective Pikachu will be the first live-action Pokemon movie. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom actor Justice Smith is playing Pikachu's trainer Tim Goodman, and recently revealed how much he'd actually worked with Reynolds.
I worked with Ryan Reynolds for a week where we went over the script with our director Rob Letterman, and talked about the characters. Ryan is really nice and really witty. I had a lot of fun working with him, even if it was for a short time
While Justice Smith seems psyched about his upcoming role in Detective Pikachu, it's a bummer to hear that Ryan Reynolds didn't work with the cast at all. But considering he's only voicing the electric type Pokemon, it stands to reason that he wouldn't be around during shooting.
Justice Smith's comments to THR shouldn't come as a complete surprise, given how voice acting for other live-action blockbusters is handled. Bradley Cooper doesn't do any motion capture or stand-in work for Rocket Raccoon in The Guardians of the Galaxy franchise, instead simply doing the voice acting. During filming, Sean Gunns stands in for the character to help capture his placement, and for the other actors to act with.
Even though he didn't get to work with Ryan Reynolds much in Detective Pikachu, Justice Smith is still having a very good two years. He made his big break in Baz Lurhmann's ambitious Netflix series The Get Down, although the show was unfortunately axed once Netflix began making unexpected cuts to its original programming.
Justice Smith also has a supporting role in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which is in theaters now. He plays newcomer Franklin Webb, who works alongside Bryce Dallas Howard's Claire Dearing. He's the hacker for Dinosaur Protection Group, and the film's trailers reveal that he's on the island when new types of chaos break out. With Claire's nephews no longer apart of the narrative, Smith will help provide Fallen Kingdom with the youth and naivety that has always accompanied the beloved franchise.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is in theaters now, and Detective Pikachu will arrive on May 20th, 2019. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.
