John Krasinski’s movie IF stars quite the ensemble of A-list actors, however, you don’t see most of them on screen, because they are voicing the imaginary friends Cailey Fleming and Ryan Reynolds' characters are trying to help. However, the director didn’t leave it all up to his stars’ imaginations when they were filming with the IFs, he had puppets that he used to mimic how the animated characters would act. This led to a hilarious moment Fleming told me about that involved Krasinski getting up in Rynolds’ face with one of the IFs, and now I need the deleted scenes.
The moment Fleming is talking about can be seen in part in the IF trailer as well as the movie. Her character, Cal and Lewis (a bear voiced by Louis Gossett Jr.) are interviewing the IFs to start the process of matching them with humans. One of the friends is a shadowy investigator named Cosmo, and when he sees Cal at the table he attacks him.
On set, that meant that while Kraskinski was puppeteering Cosmo, he got to shove Reynolds’ around, get all up in his face and mimic the attack. The actress who sits next to the Deadpool star in the scene recalled what it was like witnessing this silly moment, saying:
Yeah, so there were a few, when we did IF interviews and Cosmo gets on Ryan, and he like leaned over that was John. He did that in real life and was like shoving the Cosmo puppet on Ryan. It was so funny. I definitely broke character. There's no way that made in the movie.
I love this for everyone involved. The scene in the movie is so funny, and it helps show the imagination that makes the movie so fun – as we mentioned in our review of IF. Knowing that they used puppets on set to help the actors have visuals for the imaginary friends is incredible. Finding out that Krasinski had a blast puppeteering them and committing to bits like attacking Ryenolds with the Cosmo puppet makes me love the movie more.
In IF – which Krasinski wrote and directed – Ryan Reynolds’ character Cal is trying to help Fleming’s Bea work with the IFs to reconnect them with humans. Cosmo is an aggressive detective-like figure who is always jumping on Cal and scaring him, and he’s easily one of my favorite IFs. Meloni’s voice performance is fabulous, plus his Law and Order history adds to the fun of him playing a detective imaginary friend.
Learning about how Krasinski created Cosmo’s mannerisms on set adds to that fun, and I would have cracked up just like Fleming did.
While she said she broke and she’s sure the scene isn’t in the movie, I can confirm it is. However, the moment is part of a montage and it’s quite short. So, hopefully, we get some deleted scenes where we can see more of Cosmo hilariously attacking Ryan Reynolds.
After explaining the interview scene to me, Fleming also broke down another funny moment between Cal and Cosmo…I mean Reynolds and Krasinski, saying:
But then there was this other part where me and Ryan are walking down the hallway and Cosmo comes out of nowhere. And Ryan like grabs him, and then Cosmo does like backflips. Ryan held him and then threw him; it was so funny and then trips on Keith. Anytime you tripped on Keith, it was just it was over. I tried so hard not to laugh.
How could you not laugh at these moments? Reynolds and Krasinski – who are good friends in real life – are a fantastic duo, and if I were witnessing moments like this I would have broken too. Just watch this BTS video of the two, and I think you’ll get where Fleming is coming from:
Hopefully, after IF’s premiere on the 2024 movie schedule, we’ll get some behind-the-scenes footage of Krasinski attacking Reynolds and other deleted scenes of Cal and Cosmo’s friendship that involves a whole lot of jump scares.
IF is a total departure from John Krasinski’s other projects, and it’s a family-friendly joy ride full of fun antics like this one between Cosmo and Cal. To see the scene Cailey Fleming told me about, and to imagine what other hilariously wholesome moments Ryan Reynolds and Krasinski had on set with the actress and the IFs, you can catch the film in theaters starting May 17.
