Jacksepticeye: Irish YouTube megastar loves his cameo in new Disney blockbuster
Jacksepticeye, aka Irish YouTuber Seán McLoughlin, was thrilled to be offered a role in Free Guy. Picture: Jerod Harris/Getty Images
When popular Irish YouTuber Seán McLoughlin – better known to his millions of fans as Jacksepticeye – received an email purporting to be from a Hollywood studio, he assumed it was a wheeze.
Included in the message was the phone number of Shawn Levy, director of the Night at the Museum franchise and producer of Stranger Things. So McLoughlin called.
“I didn’t take it was real. But I called him [Levy]. And he was the nicest guy ever.”
Levy was working on Free Guy, a new action comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer which belatedly reaches cinemas on Friday August 13 (following the now traditional Covid delay).
Free Guy is an uproarious vehicle for Reynolds and an opportunity to Comer to build on the momentum of Killing Eve (it’s one of two big screen roles for her in 2021, the second being Ridley Scott’s Last Duel). It is also a tribute to video games such as Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto.
“He asked for tips and if there was anything he should avoid,” says McLoughlin, speaking over Zoom from its moodily-lit gaming studio. “I felt it should be genuine and not cringy. The kids will call you on it. The kids will know.”
Levy was after more than advice, however,. He wanted McLoughlin, from Cloghan, Co Offaly, to play himself in a cameo.
“I got the script. And I got to record in my room, without anyone supervising me,” says McLoughlin. “Shawn trusted us to do it in our most natural fashion. I learned the lines and did it nine or 10 times. The fact they got us doing what we do day-to-day made it so much more efficient.”
He’s one of a number of video game “influencers” – YouTubers who stream themselves playing Minecraft, Fortnite etc – to feature in Free Guy. Another is Daniel Robert Middleton, aka Dan TDM.
Having started out as an alternative to Hollywood mass entertainment, both appreciate the irony of now collaborating with Free Guy producer 20th Century Studios. And with its corporate overlord Disney.
“Seven or eight years ago, it was almost us versus then,” says Middleton. “Now we operate and create content together. Making really unique stuff and using the strengths of what we do and what they do.”
Free Guy is a feel-good homage to video games. Deadpool star Reynolds is the eponymous 'Free Guy'. He’s a Non-Player Character (or NPC) whose job is to fill out the background of a Grand Theft Auto-like video game. One day he walks past 'Molotov Girl', portrayed by Jodie Comer. And then all digital hell breaks loose, much of it instigated by Taika Waititi gamer-bro mogul Antwan.
“A movie about video games with Ryan Reynolds and Jodie Comer?” says Middleton. “It was an easy ‘yes’”
The YouTubers appearing in Free Guy were anxious for the film to be authentic to video game culture. Hollywood is famously tin-eared when it comes to recreating the gaming experience on screen. With Free Guy there was an effort to right this long-standing wrong.
“Most movies have a set dressing,” says McLoughlin. “They try to take a video game premise and then shove a different movie into it. That’s why most movies of games fail. This one builds a game itself from the ground up. They had to get the terminology right. Everything else is original. Nothing feels like it’s off limits or away from the story.”
Neither YouTuber feels particularly stunned to be involved in a Disney blockbuster. Then why would they? McLoughlin has his own brand of coffee and previously met Ryan Reynolds for a piece in which they bond while playing the Deadpool video game together.
Reynolds later followed up on the bromance by couriering McLoughlin a crate of his Aviation Gin. McLoughlin returned the compliment by sending Reynolds a case of his Top of the Morning coffee. For a popular YouTuber breathing in the same rarefied air as the world’s biggest stars is all in an afternoon’s work.
They also command Hollywood-scale audiences. McLoughlin’s YouTube channel has over 14.3 million followers, propelling him to an estimated net worth of $25 million. That isn’t to say life as an internet celebrity has always been easy. Online culture can be toxic and all-consuming. McLoughlin and Middleton have had to learn the ropes as they go along.
“It was difficult,” says McLoughlin. “I didn’t have any friends back where I lived. It was a lonely time. I started doing stuff on the internet and I got all these people who were coming and talking to me.
“There is this social aspect to it that can be unhealthy if you dip too far into it. You don’t want everyone in the world to know absolutely everything about you. I think internet culture can dip into that. People will take as much as they can.”
Youtube celebrity can become a monster, agrees Middleton. “There always comes the point where you to separate [your online and real selves]. Otherwise, you will go crazy. Since I started a family it’s something I do care about. You have to learn along the way because you don’t know how big it’s going to get. When it does get to a certain point you have to be careful.”
McLoughlin might be an online celeb. But he’s a groundbreaker, too, as one of the first Irish YouTubers to gain a global following.
“When I was doing it [initially] no one had really seen the Irish side of the community,” he says. “People loved the Irish accent. They would always say, ‘oh I love Ireland’. I’d say it has helped. I wouldn’t say it’s the only factor [in his success]. It definitely didn’t hurt.”
Both McLoughlin and Middleton have had to deal with trolls and the underbelly of the internet. The best solution is to not engage. And create a culture within their community that is open and positive.
“We’re just a vehicle for people’s emotions,” says McLoughlin. “People say they miss the old stuff. It’s like they miss how they felt back when they found you. It’s easy to throw stuff at people online. People’s words have a lot of weight that they don’t realise. It’s up to the creators to set their own boundaries. We call people out when we don’t like what they are saying.”
It’s important be in dialogue with your audience, he feels. Yet to also make clear that they people need to adhere to certain rules. The internet is a new frontier – not a wild west.
“Obviously you listen to criticism and feedback. However, at some point you have to set the boundary and be like, ‘I don’t like this’. You become that person steering the ship. The community is a reflection of what they’re watching. If you let it blaze out of control, it will.”
- Free Guy is released on Friday, August 13
