With Shawn Levy's fantastic new movie Free Guy, starring Ryan Reynolds, arriving in theaters August 13th, I recently spoke with him to talk about the challenges of making an original movie not based on existing IP in a marketplace that is always looking for sequels. While I’ll have that conversation online soon, I wanted to provide some updates on a few other projects at 21 Laps.
If you’re not aware, Levy runs 21 Laps Entertainment, which is the production company behind Stranger Things, Shadow and Bone, the new Unsolved Mysteries, and films like The Spectacular Now and Best Picture nominee Arrival.
While Netflix has been tight-lipped about whether or not the new Unsolved Mysteries would continue with additional episodes, based on how often the series appeared on the top ten list, I would have placed a large bet it would. And even though Levy wouldn’t come out and say it’s been renewed, he did say:
“I think that's one of the ones that I'm annoyingly not allowed to answer. But I'll probably get in trouble for even saying this, but I'll just say, 'What do you think?' The numbers and the viewership on Unsolved was global and huge. That outcome was really thrilling.”
If you read between the lines it is pretty clear more episodes are coming and Levy is just waiting on Netflix to announce the pickup.
A few years ago, we reported Levy was attached to direct the remake of John Carpenter's 1984 sci-fi classic Starman, which starred Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen. While many fans were left scratching their heads as to why anyone would want to remake the movie, Levy told me he has no interest in doing it unless they have a script that has something new to say. Here’s his response when I asked about the status of Starman:
“Starman? You could say it's far horizon, or you could say unlikely. The upshot is that I'm not going to touch that phenomenal movie, unless I feel I have something new to say or a new way to say. And thus far in the script development of Starman, we haven't gotten to a draft that feels worthy of remaking that title.”
Levy touches on something some of you may not know, which is that even though people may announce a project, a lot has to happen before it actually gets made. That’s why you sometimes hear of big-name directors attaching themselves to multiple projects, because no one actually knows when something will all coalesce to get a green light. And the biggest issue a project has to overcome is getting a script everyone likes. As Levy said, if they can get a script that is worth making, he’d make it. But right now that script doesn’t exist.
Finally, I asked Levy about the status of Steelheart and Be More Chill. Steel Heart was the first leg of a three-book trilogy by Brandon Sanderson and according to Levy, it’s not happening. Regarding Be More Chill, which is a movie adaptation of the Broadway show being produced by Levy’s 21 Laps and Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions, Levy said they have a script and they’re trying to get it made. Here’s exactly what he said:
“Stealheart, dead. Hasn't been movement on that, and unlikely for there to be at least in the foreseeable future. Be More Chill, we have a script. We have a really good script by the creators of the original off-Broadway and Broadway show. We are trying to put it together as a movie. It was one of the movies that we developed during my 15 years at Fox. Some have ended up at Netflix. Some have ended up at Disney+, Crater is an example. Crater, which is kind of Stand By Me on the moon, that's in production right now. That'll be on Disney+ next year. So, the years that we spent developing material at 21 Laps and Fox, I will say this, it's been gratifying, even though our studio got swallowed up by bigger studio. The fact that so many of the projects we developed are finding their way to screens, and that we're spreading it around different streamers, different studios, I like that it's worked out that way.”
Look for more with Shawn Levy on Free Guy next week.