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If Ryan Reynolds were a non-playable character in a video game, that would easily make him the funniest and most charismatic NPC ever animated. Such is the premise of Free Guy, in which the actor and producer plays a bank teller who suffers an existential crisis when he learns that he lives in the world of a popular MMORPG called Free City created by an eccentric game developer (Taika Waititi). Those aforementioned celebrities are only a few of the many famous faces in the Free Guy cast, whose careers up to this point (and beyond) we will breakdown for you one by one, starting with the lead.
Ryan Reynolds (Guy)
Free Guy is an action comedy, meaning Ryan Reynolds (who mastered action with movies like Smokin’ Aces, comedy with hits like Van Wilder or The Proposal, and the hybrid of both genres with Deadpool) was the perfect choice to play the title character. In fact, if not for the raunchy Marvel movie (his fourth attempt at superhero movies after Blade: Trinity, 2008’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the infamous Green Lantern, the Canadian-born former sitcom star (of Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place, namely) might not have been considered for the role. The next of Reynolds’ 2021 movies (which has also included sequels to The Croods and The Hitman’s Bodyguard) is Red Notice (his second Netflix original after 6 Underground), he will reunite with Free Guy director Shawn Levy for the time travel adventure The Adam Project, and a Deadpool 3 is in the works, reportedly.
Jodie Comer (Millie/Molotov Girl)
Assisting Guy in his effort to save the non-existent city he calls home is a game designer named Millie - played by Jodie Comer, who is best known for her Emmy-winning role on Killing Eve as an assassin tasked with killing Eve (Sandra Oh). The BBC original drama, distributed in the United States on AMC, would be what introduced her into the American mainstream following a steady career in her native England, which led to roles like Rey’s long-lost mother in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and, of course, Free Guy.
In October 2021, you can see Matt Damon and Adam Driver fight over Comer in The Last Duel, you can see her fight the spread of COVID-19 in the upcoming British TV movie Help, and she is rumored to star in another historical epic from director Ridley Scott called Kitbag, opposite Joaquin Phoenix as Napoleon Bonaparte.
Taika Waititi (Antwan)
Playing the man behind the video game at the center of Free Guy, is Taika Waititi - the man behind other funny blockbusters like Thor: Ragnarok and poignant dramedies like the World War II satire Jojo Rabbit, which earned him a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. The New Zealand-born artist has done everything from playing a vampire in the mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows (which he also co-wrote and directed) to playing a droid on The Mandalorian (which he also helmed an episode of), to playing the father of Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher 2 in The Suicide Squad (which he did not direct, but probably could have nailed).
Waititi will reprise his Marvel movies character, Korg in Thor: Love and Thunder (which he is writing and directing), and of his many other upcoming projects, the most exciting is probably his Star Wars movie, expected for 2025.
Lil Rel Howery (Buddy)
Playing a Free City cop and best friend of Guy is Lil Red Howery, who skyrocketed to fame in 2017 as another scene-stealer with a badge in Jordan Peele’s Get Out - the first of two Best Picture nominees he has starred in, along with Judas and the Black Messiah in 2021. The comedian and fellow former sitcom star (for The Carmichael Show, Insecure, and his own short-lived, self-titled series on Fox) has led a versatile career that, of course, includes comedies like Brittany Runs a Marathon and Bad Trip, thrillers like Bird Box, dramas like Fatherhood, and animation/live-action hybrids like Tom and Jerry and Space Jam: A New Legacy. Howery has more variety coming up on his plentiful plate, including the Hulu original comedy Vacation Friends with John Cena and the crime thriller Deep Water opposite Ben Affleck.
Joe Keery (Walter “Keys” McKeys)
“Keys,” a video game designer and former beau of Jodie Comer's Millie, from Free Guy is easily the biggest movie role to date for 29-year-old Joe Keery, whose other most notable big screen credits to date include Molly’s Game with Jessica Chastain, the strange horror-comedy Slice, and the buzzy found footage thriller Spree in 2020. He will reprise his best known character, Steve Harrington, when Stranger Things Season 4 premieres on Netflix in 2022.
Utkarsh Ambudkar (Mouser)
Assisting Keys is a fellow coder in a pink bunny outfit named Mouser - played by Utkarsh Ambudkar, who went by UTK on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s improv rap group Freestyle Love Supreme before making his acting debut in 2007’s Rocket Science, alongside his future Pitch Perfect cast co-star Anna Kendrick. That movie opened doors for him to appear opposite Brie Larson in Basmati Blues, Mindy Kaling’s Netflix series Never Have I Ever, the acclaimed 2018 drama Blindspotting, and as a rat in Tom and Jerry (one of his many notable voice acting roles). Ambudkar’s post-Free Guy credits include the rom-com Marry Me, Hulu’s Elizabeth Holmes-inspired miniseries The Dropout, and an American update of the supernatural UK sitcom Ghosts.
Camille Kostek (Bombshell)
Free Guys’s “Bombshell”is the latest nameless character in a big screen feature film played by former New England Patriots cheerleader and Sports Illustrated cover model Camille Kostek, who made her acting debut in the Amy Schumer-led 2018 comedy I Feel Pretty in the role of “Hostess.” She has, however, played characters with names in a pair of Hallmark movies before becoming the on-field host of the competition show Wipeout on TBS. Kostek will finally have a major movie role with a name when she stars in the upcoming sci-fi adventure film Monsters of California.
Aaron W. Reed (Dude)
Dude is an appropriate name for a beefed up version of Guy, whom Ryan Reynolds claims in a recent trailer for Free Guy is actually played entirely by him after going on a strict (and illegal) diet of human muscle. The actor who's really doubling for Dude’s body, however, is former WWE wrestler Aaron W. Reed, who made his acting debut on the final season of Jane the Virgin in 2019 before appearing on an episode of NCIS in 2020 and playing Satan in a hilarious Match.com ad that was actually produced by Reynolds that same year.
I find it quite endearing that Aaron W. Reed, a guy whom Ryan Reynolds essentially made into star by casting him as a Devil smitten with the year 2020 in human form, is now responsible for making the actor appear like he is in better shape than ever before. Catch who wins when Guy and Dude face off in Free Guy when it hits theaters Friday, August 13, 2021.
