Lil Rel Howery on friendship, Free Guy, and the oddly named Double Dribble

Millions of theatergoers saw Free Guy over the weekend, sparking buzz about a sequel that Ryan Reynolds confirmed. Fans fell for the film’s action, video game references, Star Wars Easter eggs, and—at least from our seat in the theater—the heartwarming and genuine-feeling friendship between Reynolds’ Guy and Lil Rel Howery’s Buddy. It’s a friendship that grew as Guy’s consciousness did, and that, as Howery tells us in the interview below, now begs the question “after all of this happens, who [do] they become?”

Howery says, “one of the interesting things about Buddy and Guy’s relationship as Guy starts to be enlightened and see the world for what it really is.” Buddy, he says, tells Guy, “Hey, man, I hear you, but I’m fine with the way things are,” but in one of the biggest shows of friendship and acceptance, ultimately comes around, saying—as Howery puts it—“I’m still your friend. I was built in this game to be your best friend, and that is what I’m going to be.”

While we had Howery, we also asked him about his first favorite video game. He opted for Konami’s classic basketball game Double Dribble, saying “once I figured out how to hit a three every time I came down to court, that’s when it got crazy. I was addicted to Double Dribble.” But why was a game that celebrated the skill and beauty of basketball called Double Dribble, considering it’s an illegal and amateurish move that professional basketball players almost never do? Howery seemed puzzled, saying he’d never thought about it. As he told us, “I’m going to call my brother after this and say, ‘hey, man, you ever thought about why they called it Double Dribble? You can’t do that. It’s illegal!”