After starring in ‘Barbie,’ actor Ryan Gosling turns the spotlight on the often overlooked movie-makers whose job it is to shine on screen while remaining invisible in ‘The Fall Guy.’
Inspired by the popular 1980s TV series of the same name, the film stars Gosling as Colt Seavers, a top Hollywood stuntman down on his luck after an on-set accident. An ambitious film producer manages to pull Colt out of his self-imposed post-injury isolation to rescue the directorial debut of the love of his life, Jody, following the disappearance of the film’s leading man, Tom Ryder.
Life starts imitating his art as Colt tries to track down the vanished superstar and lands in the middle of a criminal plot. The stuntman has to put on his best performance both on and off the screen to save Jody’s movie – and himself.
“I’ve benefited from the work of stunt people my whole career. They come in and they take the hits for you and then get none of the credit. That ends here. Hopefully the whole conversation is different after this film,” Gosling said at the movie’s premiere in London on Monday.
“It’s completely a love letter to stunt performers and the magic of what they create in movies. It’s a love letter to crews and making films,” added Blunt.
Directed by David Leitch, a former stunt double to stars including Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, ‘The Fall Guy’ features many daring action scenes shot with real in-camera stunts. During filming, Gosling’s stunt double Logan Holladay set a Guinness World Record for the most cannon rolls in a car.
The classic stunt sees an apparatus fitted beneath a car that propels it into a series of rolls at a designated speed. Holladay’s 8.5 rolls broke Adam Kirley’s 2006 record of 7 in ‘Casino Royale.’
“It was a mandate to do some old-school classic stunts and blow them out as big as possible,” said Leitch.
Stunt coordinator Chris O’Hara was given a “stunt designer” credit on the project in what the creators said was an industry first and an acknowledgement of the multifaceted nature of his job.
“Hopefully it sheds light to the Academy, that maybe someday we might be able to be up for an Academy Award, just like all of our other department heads in the business,” said O’Hara.
“This industry’s backbone is the action movie. It’s the movie that travels the most internationally. It’s time that they’re celebrated for what they contribute,” added actor Winston Duke.
‘The Fall Guy’ hits theaters on April 24.
