Collider.com has revealed that actor Ryan Reynolds will star in the live-action film
R.I.P.D. (a.k.a. Rest In Peace Department) based on the Dark Horse comic series. The information came from an interview with Hollywood producer Neal Moritz, who is involved with the
R.I.P.D. film:
Collider: Which goes back to what I was also going to go to, Ryan Reynolds.
Neal Moritz: "Yes, we love him. We’re going to do two movies with him. We’re doing The Change-Up with him and we’re doing R.I.P.D. with him."
What was the 2nd one you just mentioned…R.I….
" R.I.P.D. Rest In Peace Department. A terrific script by Manfredi & Hay at Universal that we hopefully going to make at the beginning of next year. It’s terrific, based on the graphic novel. It’s about two cops, one recently dead and a gunslinger who’s been dead for hundreds of years who work on the Rest in Peace department - which is the police department of the dead. And they basically…it takes place on a normal day and it’s about trying to keep the dead quiet."
That’s a very interesting premise.
"Terrific script. Great buddy comedy. Buddy Action/Comedy."
So is that an R-rated movie?
"No, it’s not. It’s a PG-13 movie."
And so it’s Ryan Reynolds and you’re still figuring out who the…
"Yes, he’ll be teamed with somebody but it’s a fantastic relationship between a cop who’s recently died who would do anything to get back to his wife. And a gunslinger who died hundreds of years ago who has seen it all and is jaded by it all and it’s the two of these guys together and it’s the relationship between these two guys that is absolutely fantastic."
With Ryan and the fact that he has Green Lantern and also I believe they’re going to try and make a Deadpool and other things.
"Yeah."
How hard is it to book his schedule at this point?
"Well, this is…luckily for me he’s going Change-Up for us in October and then R.I.P.D….R.I.P.D. is his favorite project. It’s the thing he wants to do more than anything and we’ve scheduled that for January."
The R.I.P.D. comic series, created by Peter Lenkov, is owned by Dark Horse Comics. The publisher categorizes the trade paperback as a science fiction, action/adventure story. Their description of the series is as follows:
Welcome to the Rest In Peace Department -- the devoted, yet dead, officers of divine law enforcement "patrolling the deadbeat...reporting to one boss." Yep -- THAT boss. Nick Cruz was murdered by an unknown assailent, at the height of his personal and professional life. Now he's traded a hundred years of service to the R.I.P.D. in exchange for a shot at finding who killed him. Unfortunately his search will take him to Hell and back -- literally!
This would be the fourth comic book character role for Ryan Reynolds; the first three being Hannibal King (Blade Trinity), Wade Wilson (X-Men Horridgens: Wolverine) and Hal Jordan (Green Lantern). If he lands one more, Reynolds will be tied with the
other comic book movie go-to-guy, Chris Evans.
Information courtesy of Collider.com; image courtesy of Dark Horse Comics.