Free Guy Stunt Lead Reveals Movie's Most Difficult Action Scene
Stunt coordinator, Chris O'Hara has shared which action sequence was the hardest to film in Free Guy. The action-comedy, which was released earlier this year, stars Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, and Joe Keery, and tells the story of Reynold's character, Guy, who discovers he is an NPC in an online video game. Guy helps Comer and Keery's characters, Millie and Keys, as they attempt to prove that their video game concept was ripped off by a greedy CEO named Antwan, played by Taika Waititi.
Free Guy takes place both in-game and in the real world, meaning that the film blends a number of live-action elements with animated scenery and characters. Two of the 'real world' characters, Millie and Keys, are also seen in-game, with their avatars resembling their real-life counterparts. Alongside these characters, the film boasts a number of hilarious celebrity cameos, the most memorable featuring Channing Tatum who plays Revenjamin Buttons, the considerably 'cooler' avatar of a 22-year old gamer and streamer named Keith.
Now, O'Hara has revealed that one of the hardest stunts to film within the movie, was actually one that involved Tatum's character. Speaking to ComingSoon, the stunt lead was asked which of the stunts was the most difficult to coordinate, to which he revealed that the movie's opening scene was the trickiest. O'Hara called the stunt more of a "mental challenge" as it involved working with "elements of live-action and stuff on blue screen". Check out O'Hara's full quote below.
All of the action was driven by the story. So it was not super crazy over the top. I think one of the more tricky scenes we did was pretty much right out of the gate, the first scene with like Channing Tatum kind of coming into the city, skydiving, and then blending what real-life action was from a visual effects world and trying to get that and match that into that world and then recreate it with elements of live-action and stuff on blue screen. So as far as just a mental challenge of trying to work it all together, I think that that’s where that was just one of those scenes that way. As far as it wasn’t a huge, crazy, blow stuff up everywhere, but it was a good scene to get your mind around and push the limits a little bit.
The scene in question is just one of many stand-out action sequences within the film, whereby audiences see Tatum's character skydive into the in-game world 'Free City,' land perfectly into a convertible, and immediately enter into an epic car chase shoot-out. O'Hara's work on the stunts makes for an incredibly impressive scene as the transition is seamless. The stunt lead also went on to say that he finds working on more comedy-driven action films fun as it adds "another layer to the story".
It's certainly interesting to hear what makes a scene more tricky for a stunt professional, and when you consider the elements that O'Hara discusses, it's easy to see how a scene like that can be more difficult than one that is full of explosions and over-the-top action. Overall, it seems as though O'Hara is happy with the outcome of the scene, and audiences likely share the same sentiment as it certainly makes for an incredibly exciting opening to the film. With news that Disney is keen to move ahead with Free Guy 2, audiences can hope for more exhilarating action sequences when the follow-up eventually hits the big screen.
Source: ComingSoon