Ryan Gosling Hates Heights but Fell 150 Feet for The Fall Guy

He’s been on fire with Sally Field and gone fast with a girl named Bo [Derek.] For fans of the television series, it’s hard not to hear Lee Majors still singing the theme song, “Unknown Stuntman” in nostalgic memories. And now Ryan Gosling is the one leading that death-defying life as Colt Seavers in the big-screen adaptation of The Fall Guy. In director David Leitch’s film celebrating stunt work, and even though Gosling is afraid of heights, the Oscar-nominated actor actually fell 150 feet doing his own harrowing stunt at the beginning of the flick. Gosling’s stunt double, Ben Jenkin, made the revelation in an exclusive interview with MovieWeb:

“He [Gosling] was so game to do lots of things.
The first time I met him, I said to him, ‘Is there anything that makes you uncomfortable, or you don’t want to do?’
And he’s like, ‘Well, I’m not too fond of heights.’
And the opening scene of the movie
is dropping him 150 feet.
And he did it!
And he was so game to do it,
get his hands dirty and do the stunts.”

The Fall Guy

4/5

The Fall Guy is an action thriller from Bullet Train and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch. Ryan Gosling stars as a stuntman who is forced to find a missing movie star, investigate a conspiracy, and repair his relationship with the love of his life. The film was written by Drew Pearce and inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name.

Release Date

May 3, 2024

Runtime

1hr 54min

Studio

87North, Arcana, Entertainment 360

Jenkin said in the same sit-down:

“But there were also times where he was like,
‘I don’t want to get hit by a car. That should be the stunt guy.’
So there’s a time and a place for everything.
He was great.
And
we try to really do the biggest, coolest, most exciting stunts.
And that’s a team effort…. I mean,
there were five stunt people to make one Colt Seavers, one Fall Guy.”

Jenkin Teases ‘Biggest, Coolest, Craziest Stunt Gags’ in The Fall Guy

Stunt team members Logan Holladay, Chris O’Hara and Ben Jenkin are all rightfully proud of the stunt work that went into making David Leitch’s big-screen adaptation, as is supported by their exclusive Fall Guy interview with MovieWeb. And Jenkin touts the stunt team’s efforts creating “the biggest, coolest, craziest stunt gags.” Jenkin said in the same sit-down:

“We do the biggest, coolest, craziest stunt gags

you can imagine.
I haven’t done anything as cool and as crazy and as complex.
And I’ve never been so scared doing stunts.
We just we went big.
We kept it safe, but we went big.”

Chris O’Hara, who is the stunt coordinator and second unit director on The Fall Guy, also dished about the Guinness World Record-breaking cannon rolls that happened during the making of the movie. O’Hara also told MovieWeb:

“It’s a strange thing because
it was written in the script as ‘breaking a world record,’
but I think you can’t go into doing stunts like that with that intention.
We’re not going for the glory.
So when we went through this process,
the world record that was in place at the time was seven rolls on a movie.”

The previous record of seven cannon rolls belonged to the first Daniel Craig James Bond film, Casino Royale (2006). O’Hara continued:

But they did achieve it. Now, it’s up to The Fall Guy to leave its own mark at the box office. According to Deadline,The Fall Guy is eyeing about $28 million domestically over its opening weekend after Thursday previews and Friday’s first-day numbers clocked in at $10.4 million. In the meantime, be sure to check out MovieWeb’s review of The Fall Guy, which calls the hopeful blockbuster “a spectacular start to the summer movie season with comedy, action and romance.”