‘The Adam Project’ director praises Ryan Reynolds’ marketing genius

The Adam Project marks director Shawn Levy and Ryan Reynolds’ back to back pairing after the successful action-comedy Free Guy last year. Their latest project was released on Netflix on March 11 and has received positive reviews from fans and critics alike. 

Levy, in a conversation with The Hollywood Reporter gushed about his lead star’s ability to market and promote his films. He also lauded the Red Notice star for his ability to work so quickly, admitting they work so well together. 

Ryan is a fountain of creativity and a true marketing savant. You haven’t seen the last of his comedic promos for Adam Project. There are a few others coming down the pipeline that are incredibly funny and clever. He just has that superpower. So when he gets ideas, he’ll pitch them to me and to the studio. There have been ones where I’m like, “Yeah, that’s funny, but they’ll never let you do it,” i.e., Korg and Deadpool watching the Free Guy trailer.

With all the interesting marketing and promotional ideas Reynolds has, Levy noted that once an idea lives in his mind, he strives to make it happen, like the fun promo video he made for the film. 

But then he’ll make a few calls and he’ll get it done. The thing that people don’t realize about Ryan is that he’s not one of these movie stars who hides behind a wall of agents and representatives. He picks up the call, and he makes the call. He rolls up his sleeves and does the work to get shit done. And that’s very much how I do my job, which is another reason why we hit it off so instantly.

Take a look at the hilarious promo video featuring Reynolds and newcomer Walker Scobell. 

Reynolds’ hands-on approach came in handy for a movie like this, which was initially supposed to star Tom Cruise, before falling into a huge development pitfall. Netflix then acquired the distribution rights in 2020, several years after the film was conceived. The film was co-written by Jonathan Tropper, T.S Nowlin, Jennifer Flackett and Mark Levin

The Adam Project stars Reynolds as time pilot Adam Reed who travels back in time to uncover the truth behind his wife’s disappearance, teaming up with the younger version of himself, played by Scobell. Zoe Saldaña, Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Garner star as his wife, father and mother respectively. The film is currently streaming on Netflix.