Making one of the years most romantic movies was a death-defying stunt in itself.
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Shes now gotten the chance to direct a big-time sci-fi action epic calledMetalstormwhen Colt reappears.
This is even more remarkable when one looks at just how the picture got made.
There have been many attempts over the years to turn the ABC series into a movie.
For a while, Nicolas Cage was attached, withCasino Royales Martin Campbell directing.
In 2013 came the announcement that, no, it would star the Rock, with McG directing.
Neither of those films happened.
In 2020, Casady reacquired the rights and approached Leitch and his wife and producing partner, Kelly McCormick.
Pearce prepped two different ideas for the movie.
He was elated when the filmmakers chose the latter version.
Well, with a little chaos, it turns out.
Maybe even a lot.
Theres nothing cool about trying to be cool.
Pearce has some thoughts about this.
I think you see that in Ryan.
Theres nothing cool about trying to be cool.
What Gosling does inThe Fall Guy, Pearce argues, is undercut and test his own movie-star quality.
The actor has done earnest romance.
Hes done heavy action.
I didnt believe in my ability to do that believably, says Gosling.
Instead, he connected to the blue-collar idea of a stuntman.
Leitch can see why.
Whats his real motivation?
In the TV series, she was a fellow stunt performer, played by Heather Thomas.
But it also commits Colt even more to making sure she succeeds.
At that point, the affair between Jody and Colt became one of the spines of the film.
Blunt was crucial in turning Jody into a realistically conflicted character.
And Blunt had specific ideas on where to take Jody.
Blunt thinks that might be one key to why the love story in the film resonates so much.
The mess of the two of them together, she says.
You are spending giant suitcases full of a multinational conglomerates money.
Some movies are heavily prepared well in advance, with scenes carefully mapped out and choreographed and rehearsed.
They knew that they would keep working on scenes during the shoot.
Oftentimes, youre developing it as you go.
There was a lot of room to continue to evolve it as we were going, says Hsu.
Improvisationcan be a loaded word when it comes to filmmaking.
Its a backward and forward process, Pearce says.
Lean into the mistakes, lean into circumstance, lean into how people are feeling on the day.
That stuff can get overlooked in movies of this scale because its terrifying.
You are spending giant suitcases full of a multinational conglomerates money.
Its a line Gosling thought up on the spot.
Movies are usually shot out of order, and some scenes arent figured out until later in the production.
This sounds like a crazy way to make a movie, frankly.
And I know what Im asking my physical production crew to change.
Hes a stuntman and his job is not admitting when hes hurt.
The Fall Guymines the tension between the grueling nature of stuntwork and the sweet agony of romance.
Colts ethos as a stuntman is also the reason for his emotional turmoil.
Because hes a stuntman, and his job is not admitting when hes hurt.
Theres such a jewel of a little emotional idea there that totally speaks to me as a man.
At first, hes closed off, tense, rolling with the punches but also alienated from them.
with an air of mopey diffidence.
Good action sequences tell you a piece of the story, Leitch says.
Each stunt represents something in his self-actualization.
They needed to plan these sequences out well in advance.
Gosling did perform that stunt himself, despite being deathly afraid of heights.
The two scenes now bleed into each other.
A scene of pure action-movie pandemonium becomes one of impossible longing.
