‘The Fall Guy’ Is So Captivating Even Hollywood’s Biggest Director Had Questions

The Big Picture

• The Fall Guy
  features intense stunts, including a breathtaking oner shot 10 stories high, which surprised even Steven Spielberg.
• Ryan Gosling overcame a fear of heights to perform jaw-dropping stunts in the film.
• Gosling’s commitment to realism and David Leitch’s direction make
  The Fall Guy
  a must-watch action thriller.

As audiences of The Fall Guy will know, the action comedy is packed with intense stunts (one that even broke a Guinness World Record) which should come as a surprise to absolutely no one, as the film was under the direction of stuntman-turned-director, David Leitch. Marking the sixth project in his career behind the camera, paired with decades of on-set experience, The Fall Guy is Leitch’s biggest undertaking to date and, while it’s overflowing with dazzling stunt work, the cinematography also makes this one something special. During an interview with Collider’s Steve Weintraub, Leitch breaks down the scene that not only garnered a question from Weintraub but also from cinematic legend, Steven Spielberg.

The shot in question is at the very top of the film. The movie opens with Ryan Gosling’s Colt Seavers walking from his trailer to the film’s set. The stuntman is in his prime as he flirts with Emily Blunt’s Jody Moreno and travels to his mark more than 10 stories up. It’s a oner, meaning that it was completed in one shot, and is an incredible way to kick off the movie, teasing the audience that they’re in for the ride of their lives. Once he gets to the top, Gosling’s character is strapped in and performs a jaw-dropping stunt, something that Weintraub asked Leitch, “How much is CGI and a blue screen?” According to Leitch, “This was a question that Spielberg asked me too,” continuing,

“Steven got to see the movie, and he graciously invited

Kelly
[
McCormick
] and I to come talk about it. We were talking about this, and we were discussing, ‘Were there any stitches in that shot?’ And I said there weren’t any stitches, we went all the way up the elevator – until the moment we had to hook him into the rig, and there’s a really beautiful stitch. I’m not gonna spoil where it is. So we needed to be safe and hook him up to the rig, but all of that is real. Then we just stayed there, leaned him off the edge, craned out, and he’s hanging 12 stories in the air.
That’s Ryan Gosling hanging 12 stories in the air. No green screen
. Then we dropped him – free fall.”

Ryan Gosling Lives Up To The Film’s Title

Doing your own stunts is no walk in the park, especially if you’re afraid of heights. Leitch and McCormick have previously praised Gosling’s commitment to the bit, revealing that the actor was all in for a lot of the challenging technical aspects. Further digging into the scene and Gosling’s willingness to make the movie the best and most realistic it could be, Leitch said,

“[Gosling] likes to say that he was putting the sunglasses on to hide his panic, like it was an acting choice. [Laughs] But we built him up from shorter distances.
He has a fear of heights
, he had mentioned. That was the one stunt he was trying to negotiate out of at times, but he knew ultimately it was
important for him to feel what a stunt person must feel
at that moment, and I credit him for that. So he went through the progression we asked him to do. We took him out to a parking lot, and we brought him up at different heights, and we showed him how the rig works. We tested it a couple times, so he could get used to it, so on the day he knew what it would feel like.”

And with that, one of the many great scenes in The Fall Guy was completed thanks to the tireless work of the stunt crew and the film’s leading man. You can catch The Fall Guy in theaters now and check out Weintraub’s full conversation with Leitch below.

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