David Leitch was standing with his star Ryan Gosling on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It was about 5am, on a Sunday morning in late January 2023, and they were in the middle of filming The Fall Guy.
Leitch, the film’s director, was explaining to Gosling – certified cinematic heartthrob, heartbreaker and, yes, just Ken – the stunt he was about to perform. Nothing too big: Gosling just had to stand on a broken skip bin and hold a shovel while being dragged across the bridge by a truck doing just over 50km/h. Oh, and they only had two hours to get the shot.
Ryan Gosling is dragged across the Harbour Bridge in The Fall Guy.
“I mean, his eyes were like this,” says Leitch, making two wide circles with his fingers.
“He got there at five in the morning. And then he left at seven and he went back to his hotel and he slept and then woke up and he’s like, ‘Was that a dream? Or did they just drag me across the bridge?’
“We didn’t have any time to discuss the scene. Normally, Ryan comes to set and we discuss the scene for a good 20 minutes. But not today. I’m like, ‘We have no time.’ He’s like, ‘OK, OK, what am I doing?’ And I’m like, ‘Hold this shovel. Action!’ and he’s like, ‘Whaaa.’”
Still, it was better than the time Leitch dropped the afraid-of-heights Gosling several storeys off a city building or put him on top of the Goulburn Street car park. “He has said, ‘You know, there’s this thing called green screen, Dave, I don’t know if you know about it, maybe we could use green screen.’ But he knew, ultimately, it’s called The Fall Guy, and he was going to have to do a fall.”
The Fall Guy is Leitch’s wildly silly, very funny action romantic comedy starring Gosling as Colt Seavers, a stuntman who is summoned to the Sydney set of sci-fi blockbuster Metalstorm to track down the film’s missing star, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). If he finds Tom, says the film’s hard-bitten producer Gail (Hannah Waddingham), he will not only save the movie but get the girl, aka the director and Colt’s ex, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt).
“They’re both incredible comedians,” says Leitch of Ryan and Blunt.“They really delivered fun, relatable characters that you want to root for.”
Considering he spent so much time filming in Australia, surely Leitch knows his Australian slang?
“I know,” he says, laughing. “OK, you really want to see them win.”
The Fall Guy is based loosely on the 1980s TV show of the same name, starring Lee Majors. It’s also a glorious throwback to ’80s and ’90s hits such as Romancing the Stone, True Lies or Grosse Pointe Blank. It wears its heart on its sleeve while perving on Gosling when he’s not wearing sleeves. In other words, it’s not subtle, and I loved it.
“We had a great screening at South by Southwest [film festival],” says Leitch. “And it’s obviously like a fun festival to be at because there’s not a lot of cynicism, it’s really about people that love movies. But we blew the roof off the place and it was really validating.
“My movies are generally rated R … [but] I only wanted to make this PG-13 or PG because I wanted it to reach everybody, I wanted to make something that would make people happy. And I knew we could do that without some of the darker humour that I like to do or some of the subversive stuff that I like to do. A lot of the classic ’80s, ’90s action movies had elements of this stuff and then we just amplified it.”
Ryan Gosling is Colt Seavers and Emily Blunt is Jody Moreno in The Fall Guy.
And while Gosling’s chemistry with Blunt is delightfully cheeky, it was the chemistry between Gosling and Leitch that sealed the deal, even before the script was written.
“We were talking about the tone of the movie and what we really wanted to achieve,” recalls Leitch, as he begins to roll out a routine that sounds well-oiled but turns out to be highly entertaining as well. “And we really did want to make a popcorn movie that made you laugh and was just a well-crafted cinematic experience, but [Gosling] goes, ‘Here’s what I’d like to propose to you. Because you know I’m pretty good at romance. I don’t know if you’ve seen The Notebook?’ And I’m like, ‘yes, Ryan, you’re amazing’. And he’s like, ‘I’m pretty good at that, I’ve really honed my craft in the romance thing’.
Ryan Gosling (left) with director David Leitch and stunt double Logan Holladay on the set of The Fall Guy.
“‘And then I recently did this thing called The Gray Man. So this big-budget action thing, I’ve sort of dipped my toe in it. I also did this movie called The Nice Guys, so I’ve done some comedy, and it was a really fun experience. I would like Fall Guy to be all of those things. Because I’ve never gotten to do that before. Usually, they’re either romantic, or they’re a comedy, or it’s an action film. Why can’t we have all of those things?’ And I’m like, well, I think we can.”
The action element of The Fall Guy was also personal for Leitch. He got his start in the screen business as a stuntman – his first job was Baywatch – before landing the gig as Brad Pitt’s double in Fight Club. From there, it was a steady climb through Pitt’s big-name films, as well as doubling for Matt Damon in two of the Bourne movies, plus working on the Matrix sequels and Wolverine.
His big break behind the screen came with violent cult hit John Wick, which he co-directed (uncredited) with Chad Stahelski, before going solo with Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train, among others.
But it was the Matrix and Wolverine connections that landed him back in Sydney for The Fall Guy. Leitch was keen to work with Australian crews again, some of whom he hadn’t seen for 20 years. But unlike The Matrix, which did its best to hide that it was filmed in Sydney – everyone, just ignore the Dymocks sign and that Commonwealth Bank logo in the background! – The Fall Guy goes all in, happily and cheesily squeezing in every landmark there is.
“We’re trying to celebrate Sydney, and we’re trying to be a big movie that comes here and does right by the city,” says Leitch. “We’re not trying to cheat Sydney for any other city, we’re playing Sydney for Sydney.
“Look, any metropolitan area you want to shoot in any city in the world, it’s a pain, it’s a pain to lock down. And people in their day-to-day life don’t give a crap we’re making a movie. But Sydney was actually more gracious in some ways than other cities because they haven’t had as much filming in the city proper. New York just gets overshot, and people get cranky in London when they shoot there all the time.”
Emily Blunt is Judy Moreno in The Fall Guy.
Which is why The Fall Guy is Leitch’s love letter to film crews – to every director, camera operator, first AD, gaffer, and put-upon personal assistant – because he’s worked with everyone. But mostly, it’s a love letter to stunt performers, the ones who put their bodies on the line so the actors don’t have to – the ones who get hit, throw hits, and then roll a car eight times like it’s nothing.
“Some people don’t necessarily want to get noticed,” says Leitch. “I mean, it is sort of in the job description, in our DNA, that we are supposed to not be seen. But what I want people to appreciate about them is that they’re also artists that create these sequences for film.
Actors Ryan Gosling (left), Aaron Taylor-Johnson with stunt doubles, Ben Jenkin, Logan Holladay, Justin Eaton, and director David Leitch.
“The stunt department is like any other department on a movie set, they are designing action, they’re interpreting the words on the page, and then creating and bringing that action to life. Usually far beyond what the writer has put on the page, or maybe even the director’s vision. Just like the costumes are designed by the costume designer, the action is designed by that department. And I don’t think most people know that.
“It’s not just a bunch of meatheads crashing cars and taking falls.”
The Fall Guy puts its stunt performers front and centre. A few get cameos in the film, while the end credits show Gosling’s four stunt doubles at work. And if you keep a keen eye out, one of Australia’s leading stunt performers, Nash Edgerton, gets a cameo early on.
Does Leitch think stunt performers will ever be recognised at the Oscars with their own category?
“I think we’re on the right track,” he says. “There’s a lot of bureaucratic paths and things we have to pass, but people want it to happen, people know the facts. And it’s just the Academy traditions that we’re getting through. And we will get there, and there will be recognition for some performers soon.”
The Fall Guy is released in cinemas on April 24.
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