Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer, Free Guy follows a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game and decides to become the hero of his own story; one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way — before it is too late.

The original spec script was written by screenwriter Matt Lieberman (Scoob!, The Addams Family, The Christmas Chronicles franchise) and made the 2016 Black List. For some, the five-year journey Free Guy took to get from screenplay to the silver screen may seem long, but according to Lieberman, "Five years is actually not a long time. It followed the normal development process." 

The idea came to him when Lieberman wondered what it was like to have the cheat codes to life: "What if you see power-ups that could give you money and health and special powers?"

Then he had the light bulb moment of realizing that "you’d probably be a background character." 

He shared the script with his manager, who told him "this one is special," and Lieberman went back and tinkered with it.

"I knew it was a good idea, but I didn’t have any expectations," Lieberman said.

When it was ready, "Free Guy got sent out on Friday. Over the weekend, there was a big buzz; exactly the sort of thing you want with a script."

He remembers driving around town the following Monday: "People were pitching me. But then that Tuesday, Trump got elected and on Wednesday it went cold." 

Then, he got the e-mail that said Ryan Reynolds wanted to do the movie.

"I never thought Ryan Reynolds would play Guy," he said.

Then Shawn Levy signed on.

"We did a draft together, and Shawn and Ryan were such great collaborators. Shawn has a great sense of humanity and emotion, and Ryan is so smart and funny and talented. After we got it to a certain place, Zak Penn made some smart changes and helped build out the real world [in Free Guy]. Then Disney bought it, and it got made," Lieberman said. 

"Going to set to visit and seeing it coming to life was amazing. It makes you want to cry because it's a dream come true to work with all the talented people involved. I couldn't ask for better collaborators." 

When asked how he navigated creating the rules of a world as intricate and massive as Free City, especially for those who may not be familiar with open-world video games, Lieberman muses before answering, “Funny enough, I never saw this as a video game movie. It’s an alternate reality that happens to be a video game. When I build a world like this, the characters and themes always come first. If I honor those things in early drafts, world building comes easy." 

For writers who may be tackling their first action/comedy feature, Lieberman suggests, “Don’t get caught up on details.” He explains, “For action, every set-piece needs to tell a story and move the narrative forward. Otherwise, you get action for action’s sake and then the scene may not work and the character doesn’t come out." 

And what did Lieberman learn by taking his script from an idea to a blockbuster summer release?

"Trust my instincts," he said.

He chuckles as he recalls, "When I first had the idea, I clumsily pitched it to an agent who said, 'I don't know if you should be writing that.' Then a year later, I pitched it to the same agent who said, 'That's a great idea. Why aren't you writing that?' It took me a while to sit down and write it. I wished I had started sooner." 

Lieberman goes on to say, "When I wrote Free Guy, I wrote it for myself."

He urges writers, "Write the movie you want to see and get it on the page because you don't know what it is until it’s out. There is no perfect. Perfect is the enemy." 

And if he could go back in time and high-five himself, Lieberman would tell his younger self, "You're doing this because you love writing movies. The best way to get everything you want is to write the best screenplay." 

With Free Guy now out in the wild, Lieberman has a busy year ahead of him.

"I have two original ideas with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. — Yamanzu and Meebo and Me, respectively — and an animated film Rumble, as well as a spec he sold to Kenya Barris.

"It’s Ted meets Gremlin."

His advice for writers?

"The more you write, the more everything else will fall into place. Don't worry about anything else."