Directed by Rob Letterman, Pokémon Detective Pikachu is one of the most successful animated movies of 2019, grossing over $433.2 million at the box office. The mystery fantasy comedy follows a detective named Harry Goodman who went missing.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu. Source: Legendary Entertainment, Toho Co., Ltd., Warner Bros. Pictures

Following that, the detective’s 21-year-old son, Tim went on a quest to find his missing father. Harry’s former Pokémon partner, the smart and adorable detective joins Tim on his journey, unfolding many mysteries. Interestingly, only Tim could talk to Pikachu and their pair stole the show being fan favorites. Ryan Reynolds plays Detective Pikachu, while Justice Smith portrays Tim Goodman.

Dwayne Johnson Almost Got To Voice Pikachu

Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson in Red Notice. Source: Netflix

Before Ryan Reynolds, lots of actors were considered to voice Pikachu, including Black Adam star Dwayne Johnson. Talking about landing the role, Reynolds said, “What I found out is they paired a sort of fully rendered CGI version of Pikachu to a bunch of different actors’ voices.”

“And somehow mine was the one they liked the best. So they sent me that, and I said, ‘Oh, it kind of works!’ So I thought why not infuse a grumpy, acerbic man into this adorable little yellow guy?”

As per reports, in the initial stage of the film, the makers of Pokémon Detective Pikachu went on trying the voices of Danny DeVito, Mark Wahlberg, and Reynolds’ Red Notice co-star, Dwayne Johnson. Later, the makers finalized Reynolds and said that he was their obvious choice.

“We wanted a big personality to come out of a small, adorable yellow thing,” director Letterman said.

“We needed somebody who’s incredibly funny but could be grounded and dramatic, and have the combination of irreverence and heart, and that narrows it down. It really does. [They needed to] love to improv, and Ryan’s so good at that.”

The movie was shot in London with the idea to make “Rhyme City a mashup of London and New York and Tokyo” trying to achieve the gritty look of it in the multicultural melting pot.

Ryan Reynolds Voicing Pikachu In Pokémon Detective Pikachu

The Hitman’s Bodyguard. Source: Lionsgate Films

Ryan Reynolds was not sure about the role when he got it. He told Den of Geek, “I’m not taking the deepest dive here,” Reynolds joked, “but for the most part, the mandate going in was just kind of be Ryan Reynolds. So I was like, ‘Alright, I can do that.’”

“There’s a culture behind it that’s very specific and probably very discerning. So the first thing I did was, ‘Am I the right guy to play Pikachu?’ Because I don’t have any skin in the game, my feedback to the studio is, ‘Is there someone else who’s supposed to be playing Detective Pikachu and I shouldn’t?’”

While preparing for the role, Reynolds revealed that he spent quite some time improvising the character with co-star Justice Smith on a motion-capture soundstage in London.

Detective Pikachu was Meant for Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Reynolds. Source: 20th Century Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Evidently, the Deadpool star put his soul into his role in the $76.4 Billion Franchise. He was also present on the set just to understand the chemistry of the character and the nature of the plot. “I sort of did a bunch of passes at it,” he said. Reynolds added,

“One of the great lessons of film, for me at least, is you have to listen to your movie. So things change and things alter, and you want to sort of shuck and jive with it all, so I started on set, just to understand what Justice was doing and what Kathryn was doing, to feel what our chemistry would feel like. And then the rest of my job was just in a dark room with motion-capture and performance-capture.”

Further, Ryan Reynolds revealed that he had so much fun doing the movie. Fascinated by the technology implemented in the film, he said that he’d probably do more projects like Detective Pikachu in the future.

Source: The Things