Hobart Talks ‘I AM RYAN,’ Ryan Reynolds Comparisons & Hollywood Fame

photo credit: Ryan West Photo

Ahead of the theatrical release of I AM RYAN on May 22, we caught up with Hobart Miller, the multi-talented artist serving as the film’s star, writer, composer, and producer. Inspired by his real-life experiences of constantly being mistaken for Ryan Reynolds, and even working as his body double on films like Free Guy and The Hitman's Bodyguard, Hobart brings a hilarious and sharp satire of fame, identity, and Hollywood culture to the big screen. Beyond film, his career spans music, gaming, and live entertainment, making him one of the industry’s most versatile rising creatives.

---

For readers discovering you for the first time, how would you introduce yourself and your creative world?

I'm a musician, host, filmmaker, and actor. Somehow I would make a fantastic Ryan Reynolds body double, which is either a compliment or a cosmic joke. I haven't figured out which. I started making music in 2006 and never really stopped adding things on top of that. The through line is storytelling. Whether I'm scoring a game, writing a scene, or standing in for a guy who makes gin commercials, I'm always thinking about narrative. I go by @bigsushivampire online, which tells you how seriously I take myself.

You started in music back in 2006. How did that foundation shape the artist you are today?

At what point did acting become a serious pursuit alongside music?

Music taught me how to feel a room. When you're composing, you're constantly asking: what does this moment need emotionally? What's the subtext? That question follows me into everything I do now. Acting became serious when I realized the two weren't separate. When you compose a song, you're performing emotions. When you act, you're hitting notes. I stopped thinking of them as different careers and started treating them as the same skill set applied to different instruments.

The concept of I Am Ryan comes from your real-life resemblance to Ryan Reynolds. When did you realize this could become a story?

Honestly, it happened once I was actually on a set standing in for the man, taking photos for a movie poster that was supposed to be him. What a surreal experience, to be told: yes, you look like this beefcake A-list celebrity. I started thinking, there's something here. I'm always looking for the next big challenge, and creating I Am Ryan was it. I wrote the original script in 2017 and pitched it on and off for eight years. It's all about timing, and this one just took a bit longer than you'd guess now that it's been made.

Having worked as his body double, how did that experience influence the film's narrative?

It gave it authenticity that you can't fake. I wasn't writing a concept. I was writing from a place I'd actually stood in, literally. The experience shapes how the story asks bigger questions about identity, ambition, and what it means to be adjacent to fame rather than inside it. It's funny, but it's also real. The movie is hyperbolic, of course. It's not a true story, but it was super fun to step into the role of Bryan Reynolds and totally embrace it. He's a goofball.

photo credit: Ryan West Photo

Creating, starring in, and composing for the same project is rare. How do you manage that level of creative control?

I had a great team at Carl Jackson Studios around me on this project, and they gave me a lot of confidence. They trusted me with a lot, and they didn't have to. I was involved in every step of this movie and I learned so much. But back to your question, when you're wearing all three hats, there's no one else to blame if something doesn't work, but there's also no committee diluting your vision. The music informs how I perform a scene. The performance informs what the music needs to feel like. It's a feedback loop. I also worked with people I trust, like Carl Jackson, who gave me the space to be all those things at once without pulling me in six directions. I had a great time doing all of it. I hope to do it again and again.

You've composed for major projects like Deadpool the video game, Watch Dogs, and Age of Empires. How does working in games differ from film?

Games are non-linear, which changes everything about how you compose. In film, you're scoring a fixed emotional journey and you know exactly when the turn happens. In games, the player controls the pace, so your music has to be adaptive and live inside moments without knowing when those moments will resolve. It makes you think differently about tension and release. Film scoring is a sentence. Game scoring is a conversation. In all transparency, I think video game music is way more fun to make, but film compositions are usually much more satisfying.

You're also developing new projects, including a darker comedy. What kind of stories are you drawn to telling next?

I'm drawn to characters who are stuck in a place, in a role, in someone else's shadow. The Diner project I'm developing lives in that space. There's something universal about being in a situation you can't exit, whether it's supernatural or just deeply human. I want to make people laugh and then catch themselves feeling something they weren't expecting. That gap is where I want to live with the Diner film. I'll get back to making sillier comedies eventually, but for now it looks like the next project or two will be more dramatic. Sometimes in music you get the itch to write pop, sometimes it's hard rock.

Looking ahead, how do you want to evolve as a creator across film, music, and beyond?

I want to keep doing it all and get better at letting each discipline talk to the others. I Am Ryan opens theatrically May 22nd, and I want that to be a proof of concept for my journey as a multifaceted entertainer. Not just that the film works, but that a creator who controls every layer of a project can compete. The goal has never been to be famous. The goal is to keep making things I'd actually want to watch and listen to. I'm just getting started.

________

Journalist: D.R.

Courtesy of Conscious Hollywood PR #IamRyan #Hobart #RyanReynolds