The new movie from the folks behind John Wick, Nobody and Bullet Train!
Universal has just dropped the first trailer for The Fall Guy, a huge new action blockbuster based on the hit 1980s TV series of the same name.
In the movie, professional stuntman Colt (Ryan Gosling) finds himself trying to locate the missing action star (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) of a huge new sci-fi epic, which happens to be directed by Colt’s ex-girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt). If the star can’t be found then the production will be completely shut down, ruining Jody’s career, and ending any chance of a romantic reunion. Unfortunately, it turns out that there is a lot more going on here than just a missing actor…
The Fall Guy is directed by David Leitch, who previously helmed Atomic Blonde, Hobbs & Shaw, and Bullet Train, and he is also the co-founder of 87North, the stunt team behind the likes of Nobody and Violent Night. So between that, and what is blatantly clear in the trailer, the action in this movie is going to be NUTS.
To celebrate the launch of the trailer for The Fall Guy, JOE caught up with David Leitch to discuss Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, stunts, shutting down huge landmarks and maybe what to expect from Nobody 2…
JOE: So this is the third time that Ryan Gosling has played a stunt performer. He had Drive, he had The Place Beyond The Pines. So from you working with Ryan, it’s that something you’ve noticed, that he does have some kind of affinity with stunt performers?
David: I think he does. It’s a very different character to the others. But I do think he likes the working man, the blue collar sensibility of the stunt performer and maybe the under-recognised. But the guy with that interesting set of skills aspect about the stunt man. And that’s sort of what I think drew him to this character as well. We wanted to sort of create a fun, Rocky-esque story about the guy that is the hard working, blue collar guy who is always underestimated. But at the end of the day, you underestimate him at your own risk. There’s a lot of skills that a stunt man like him has. And he may not even believe it himself, but by the end of the movie, he can be self-actualised into something maybe even bigger than what he thought he could be. And that’s sort of fun for people to have that wish-fulfilment.
JOE: As talented and as capable as his character appears to be, one of my favourite types of Ryan Gosling is “completely out of his depth Ryan Gosling”, which I think is part of the reason why Barbie blew up so much this year. But this also feels like a spiritual sequel to The Nice Guys. Again, he’s playing someone who’s kind of awkwardly forwardly momentum-ing his way to solving a problem that’s much bigger than he realised. Did you get that sense, that it does share similarities to a movie that fans have been clamouring for a sequel to?
David: Definitely there are echoes of that type of humour in this movie. I think Ryan is incredible comedic actor, and you can see that with his appearances on SNL or movies like The Nice Guys or Crazy Stupid Love, like he can do all different types of comedy and he’s really, really talented at it. So when we approached this movie, we had conversations between him, Kelly [McCormick, producer] and myself had really early conversations. He goes “I’ve done romance. The Notebook, I know how to do that. I’ve done comedy, The Nice Guys. I know how to do that. I’ve done some action now with The Gray Man. I’ve done that. But this movie allows me to use all my tools and that’s what I really want to. That’s what I’m really excited about. And can we build this movie where we can have comedy, romance, action and drama and stick the landing on the tone?” And it was such a fun movie to do that in. And you have Ryan, who’s again at the pinnacle of all those that those tools are all sharpened now and ready to be used. And he’s using them all. And it’s really fun to watch.
JOE: Correct me if I’m wrong, but I would feel like if I were in a movie directed by David Leitch and I knew we were working with 87North, that it’s going to put me through my paces, physically. And that maybe in terms of the the stunt work or the action scenes, I would have to be a lot more personally involved in the sequences. It almost seems like this fantastic rite of passage now – I absolutely love Nobody, and knowing that Bob Odenkirk did those things with 87North, that is just so impressive to me. So is Ryan another one of those people who’s willing to throw himself into the deep end for these big, big stunts?
David: You know, I think he wanted to make this character as authentic as possible. And to do that, he really did have to immerse himself in it and do some and wanted to do some bigger stunts that, you know, took the time and sort of the the the mental like “Okay, I’m doing this. I got to trust my rigging. I got to trust the stunt team. I got to trust the effects team.” And he stepped in and did them. But also in this movie as well, we wanted to celebrate the stunt men. And so it wasn’t a movie where we felt like we couldn’t use stunt doubles. In fact, we had a great – and I think Ryan, he’ll talk about that when hopefully the strike ends and we can get them on the press tour – we’re not hiding the fact that we did some really big practical stunts with some really talented stunt performers. And that’s what this movie is celebrating. But that being said, Ryan also did some big stunts. And there’s one you’ll see that opens the movie that’s him, that you know would be nerve racking for any stunt man, much less an actor. So, yeah, we did both on this movie.
JOE: Are there sequences in the trailer that show off the most difficult stunt to film while making this particular movie?
David: I think you see us on the Harbour Bridge in Sydney. And so the logistics to lock down the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia, it was mind blowing. I don’t think it had been done in about 20 years, to lock it down for filming. And then to have the practical stunt rigs to be dragging Ryan across this bridge, hanging on to the back of a garbage truck with a shovel, like this is all really happening. It’s not like on a blue screen. And I think what’s really exciting is when you I don’t know… maybe this is a spoiler… but the movie has a certain authenticity, because we did those things for real and we really made practical rigs to make it happen. And it’ll be demonstrated by the end of the movie, that this was all in-camera stuff. But yes, definitely that scene where we’ve locked down the Sydney Harbour bridge and we’re dragging Ryan across it, which made the international news when it happened, that was a pretty big deal for us.
JOE: And we can’t not talk about Emily. Because it’s Emily Blunt and she is incredible, we bow down to her. Obviously her character in this isn’t as liable to get into this stunting stuff. But does she does she get involved in the action herself?
David: She does. As the stakes ratchet up for the heroes in the movie, there’s the stakes of the love story in this film that is really exciting, like those guys… Are they going to get back together? Are they not? You know, that’s the real heart of the movie. This guy just wants to get the girl back. And she wants it to happen, too, but it has to be on the right terms. Then there’s also this investigation going on with the baddies and all the things you’d expect in an action movie. And so when when the shit hits the fan, Emily’s character has got some great survival skills of her own and she’s a badass director who grew up on movie sets and will do shots of tequila with grips and electrics, but she’ll also, hit you with a prop so you never know what she’s going to do. She’s tough. She’s got a couple of really fun fight scenes. And there’s one that often times in the test screening is people’s favourite action scene.
JOE: And final question. I did mention how much I loved Nobody. We recently interviewed David Cross because he had his comedy tour here, and obviously David Cross and Bob Odenkirk are Comedy Partners in Crime. And we asked him if he’d seen Nobody. And he was dead serious, he said “I want my Nobody.” So I’m pitching to you now, to chat to whoever you need to chat to, because I hear Nobody 2 is in the works. Get David Cross into that.
David: Honestly, it’s a great idea. I’m not going to be able to pay you anything, but if I take it, you’ll know that it’ll be because of you. Yeah. Putting those two together would be undeniable. I mean, obviously, I’m a huge fan of Mr. Show, and they’re both comedic geniuses. Yeah, it’d be a fun reunion. Maybe he’s a baddie. He could play a great bad guy.
JOE: And he would be superb as a terrifying, terrifying bad guy.
David: Yes. He’s so good. It’s great idea. Now I have to tell Kelly. We will. We’ll get on it.
The Fall Guy arrives in cinemas on 1 March 2024.
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