Free Guy: Ryan Reynolds responsible for Mariah Carey obsession in the film

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Ryan Reynolds has made his love for iconic '90s divas no secret. He got Celine Dion to provide a power ballad for DEADPOOL 2 and, if you have seen the recent trailers for his next film FREE GUY, you may have noticed that they prominently feature Mariah Carey's 1995 No.1 hit, "Fantasy." During an interview with CinemaBlend, FREE GUY director Shawn Levy revealed that the song was included on the soundtrack and the film's marketing campaign because Ryan is a huge fan of Mariah Carey and the song.

"Credit where credit's due. Ryan, when he was doing the earliest dialogue polishes on this screenplay, he was listening to Mariah in his home, and he wrote "Fantasy" into the script. And I go, 'What's this about?', and he's like 'It just feels good.' So literally, based on nothing but Ryan's instinct, and the fact that that was one of his writing tracks in the revisions of Free Guy, we approached Team Mariah and it lead to that song being the signature track. Not only in the movie, but in the campaign for the movie."

Perhaps there was a bit of an exchange between the two parties because back in November of 2019, Reynolds and his wife, actress Blake Lively, were greeted by Mariah Carey and her two kids Moroccan and Monroe while one of her sons wore a Deadpool mask. Her son is a huge fan of the films and they all took a moment to take a picture together which can be seen below:

Apparently, the love for Mariah Carey will be a running gag throughout the film, which tells the story of a video game non-playable character, played by Reynolds, who one day achieves playability, and sets out on his own adventure within the fictional city he calls home. Levy reveals that "Fantasy" has a bigger role to play in the film's narrative rather than just serving as a background song for a scene.

"I'll dangle one other easter egg, which is… actually I won't. [laughter] I'm so fucking sorry, dude. I'm really excited for you to see the movie, and you'll realize that there's a bunch of reasons why that track makes a lot of sense for the central protagonist. And there's interesting ways that that track kind of gets played out in the movie."

In FREE GUY Ryan Reynolds stars along with Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rey Howery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and Taika Waititi and is expected to arrive in theaters on December 11, 2020, unless it pulls a 2020 and decides to vacate its release date due to the pandemic. However, you know what will always be there? Mariah Carey's "Fantasy" which comes in two flavors: the original radio version and the "Fantasy (ODB Remix)." Both versions are bound to get any party started.