“The Fall Guy” will feature very different action: We talk to Ryan Gosling with the creators of the cult series adaptation

In the 1980s, the adventures of stuntman Colt Seavers in the series “A Colt for All Occasions” thrilled TV audiences around the world. Of “The autumn manThere will be a cinema adaptation on February 29, 2024 – and there is real action expertise behind it. David Leitch worked as a stuntman for over twenty years before making his directorial debut with ‘John Wick’. With co-director Chad Stahelski and their former company 87Eleven, they revolutionized action cinema in Hollywood.

Leitch does this together with his wife and production partner Kelly McCormick and her own company 87North. This is how films like “Bullet Train”, “Violent Night” and “Nobody” were made. In 2022 they even expanded their field of expertise. Since then, they have also run a special training center where stunt designers can develop action scenes for Hollywood productions and train their actors for them. ‘Violent Night’ star David Harbor called the site ‘The Church Of Pain’.

“The Fall Guy” features action in Hollywood itself

Leitch and McCormick seem like the ideal choice to dust off the ’80s series with ‘The Fall Guy’ and deliver modern action. The focus is on Ryan Gosling as stuntman Colt Seavers. He comes to the aid of his ex-girlfriend Jody (Emily Blunt) when she urgently needs a double for her leading man while filming a science fiction epic. But soon Colt has to use his skills in other ways, as lead actor Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) disappears without a trace. In his search for him, the stuntman soon finds himself in real action on the streets of Hollywood…

The first trailer of ‘The Fall Guy’ already makes it clear that the cinema adaptation not only offers a lot of action, but also very different action. After all, in addition to the search for the missing main character, we also have the film adaptation of a sci-fi epic – a film within a film? In the interview we naturally wanted to ask David Leitch and Kelly McCormick whether they took advantage of the opportunity to make two films at the same time. Of course, we also talk a lot about action – and we also talk about names from Germany, among other things…

Before the interview, if you haven’t seen it yet, check out the trailer:

David Leitch: Yes that was it. Because the series was kind of a staple for a lot of stunt performers of my generation. We were still kids when the series came out. It was therefore very exciting when I was suddenly approached with this project. Kelly and I immediately knew that we could do something with it that we knew a lot about. Because not only did I love the original series, but I was a stuntman myself for about 25 years. So yes, this project means a lot to me.

“The Fall Guy” is also a love letter to the stunt community and to the entire blue-collar crew that produces these films we all love so much. We also celebrate the hardworking people who keep this industry alive.

Kelly McCormick: It is also a nice bonus that we happen to appear at the right time, right after this year in which our industry suffered so much. It’s perfect timing for the film to make sure everyone knows how wonderful all these hardworking people are and how much love goes into making this entertainment for everyone.

Did you shoot two movies at the same time? No, there are actually 3!

Kelly McCormick: We actually think of it as three films. This all happens during the making of a film. Then you have the research that Colt does, where we move a little bit towards film noir. And then of course we have Jody’s epic sci-fi love story, which got us really excited. We’ve made creatures, sci-fi outfits and stuff like that. That was a lot of fun, because we had never done anything like that before.

“The Fall Guy” really gave us the opportunity to do very different things in one movie. But what was important – and David paid attention to this from the start – was that our film-within-a-film had to be immediately understandable. Who are the bad guys, who are the good guys, what’s going on. I think he did a really good job – also with his own look. This contains a lot of silver and gold and in the center is the ambassador played by Teresa Palmer in an opulent costume. I think it was a really good decision on his part to design it so that every time you land in our sci-fi movie, you’re immediately in it – without us having to explain much.

David Leitch: Yes, we have that. Although we all worked with the same crew, one of the things we did was work with our cinematographer Jonathan Sela to find ways to give them different looks.

Kelly McCormick: And also with a production designer from Germany: David Scheunemann, who deserves a lot of praise.

David Leitch: Yes, absolutely, give him the recognition he deserves.

We really worked a lot with different looks. This gives the action on set a more natural look, for which we worked a lot with longer lenses. In some cases we also used many more cameras to capture the goings-on on the film set as naturally as possible. Jody’s film, on the other hand, is much more stylized. This is what a science fiction film of mine would look like. And then of course we have some really entertaining action scenes in the investigation section, which in turn are meant to feel much more real and down to earth – at least as much as ‘down to earth’ is possible when your film is set in the crazy world of Hollywood .

Action expertise from Germany supports David Leitch

David Leitch: We love Can and have known him for a long time as he has been involved in several of our projects. Most recently he was one of the choreographers for “Violent night“.

Like many stunt people, he is a filmmaker through and through. He has this joy and love for movies – that’s why I like bringing different people on board, and also why I wanted to do The Fall Guy. The Fall Guy team loves filmmaking as much as the team Kelly and I had the pleasure of working with. We are automatically attracted to and hire people who truly have a love for cinema – and Can is certainly one of them.

Kelly McCormick: Ryan likes action – that was a very good condition. But he is also very good at involving his stunt crew. Because with everything we ask of the actors, that was crucial for some of the stunts we did here. Of course, in the end we also needed specialists and people who could do really epic things.

But we were immediately drawn to Ryan when we started looking for the protagonist, because he is someone who speaks directly to people and takes them along. We wanted the audience to be able to see themselves in this stuntman, even if he chose this career and lived the movie life.

Our main character is the hardest worker on set, he has skills, he is incredibly talented… and in the end his job is still to hide his face, not be seen and not be recognized. We think this is particularly recognizable for many people in today’s world. She has to work and is not recognized. And Ryan is a great ambassador for that story – not to mention one of the best actors working in Hollywood today. He has that humor, that charm, that sparkle. We had wanted to work with him for a long time anyway, so he was perfect for this project.

Action by stars and with stunt doubles: it’s all about the right design!

David Leitch: Even when I was with Chad [Stahelski] worked together at 87Eleven – which then culminated in “John Wick” – but now also at 87North our approach is: we want to integrate the actors into the action as safely as possible. Training is the key here.

All actors have different talents. With good action scene design you can highlight their strengths. You can design the action accordingly to keep the illusion alive as much as possible. So our training is also about recognizing these talents and then training them as hard as possible – but they reach certain limits and that is where doubles comes into play.

“The Fall Guy”: in theaters from the end of February 2024

“The autumn man“will hit theaters on February 29, 2024. In addition to the aforementioned Ryan Gosling, “Kick-Ass” star Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Emily Blunt and Teresa Palmer, “Black Panther” fan favorite Winston Duke, Stephanie Hsu and Hannah Waddingham of “Ted Lasso” fame, among others roll along. Below we have the original English trailer for you: