Current:Home > StocksRyan Gosling 'blacked out' doing a 12-story drop during filming for 'The Fall Guy' movie -Wealthify
Ryan Gosling 'blacked out' doing a 12-story drop during filming for 'The Fall Guy' movie
View
Date:2025-04-12 22:29:33
For Ryan Gosling, becoming "The Fall Guy" meant facing his fear of heights.
Early in the movie (in theaters Friday), the hotshot Hollywood stuntman he plays, Colt Seavers, performs a big fall with all the bravado of someone who has done this hundreds of times. To ask Gosling about it, however, that couldn't be further from the truth.
"You could see the fear in my eyes," he says. "I have a fear of heights. And they dropped me 12 stories.
"I think I blacked out. Honestly, I don't remember much."
In the scene, a harnessed Colt is doubling for superstar Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). He suavely dons a pair of sunglasses before seemingly thoughtlessly falling backward off the 12th floor inside a high-rise.
The shades were concealing the very real panic coursing through Gosling.
"Ryan had to put sunglasses on during that stunt because he was so scared. He was worried you'd see the whites of his eyes," says Emily Blunt, who plays his ex turned love interest Jody Moreno.
"You could hear a pin drop. I was very scared watching you do that."
The movie is loosely adapted from the '80s hit show "The Fall Guy," in which Lee Majors played Colt, a stuntman and a bounty hunter, and Heather Thomas was Jody Banks, a fellow stunt performer. The parallels between the movie (directed by David Leitch, a former stuntman himself) and the TV series more or less end there.
Leitch's "The Fall Guy" is an all-gas, no-brakes action film interwoven with a love story between Colt and Jody. But wait, there's also a ridiculous sci-fi film-within-a-film that Jody's directing and a dash of thriller as a murder is uncovered. It was a lot to accomplish − certainly more than what Gosling could do by himself.
'It took five stunt guys to make one fall guy,' Ryan Gosling says
Though Blunt, 41, did all of her own stunts, "it took, like, five stunt guys to make one fall guy," Gosling says.
Thankfully for Gosling, 43, his stunt doubles subbed in for him as Colt is set on fire (the work of Ben Jenkin), falls 150 feet from a helicopter (that's second-generation stunt guy Troy Brown) and rolls a car 8½ times on a beach. This cannon-roll stunt, performed by seasoned stunt driver Logan Holladay, broke a Guinness World Record. And Justin Eaton made Gosling look like a martial arts expert.
Gosling, who has had a stunt double "for most of my life," hails stunt performers as the "unsung heroes" of cinema.
"They do all this really dangerous, amazing stuff. They kind of come in and risk everything and then disappear. If they do their job well, you never know that they were there," he says. "It's just so messed up that they don't get the credit that they deserve."
Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt agree Colt Seavers is 'a die-hard Taylor Swift fan'
At one point, Colt is deep in his feelings as he worries about Jody's extreme reaction to his unexpected return from a self-imposed exile.
In a scene that was teased during a Super Bowl commercial, Colt silently sits in a car, cloaked in darkness as he mouths the words to the beloved Taylor Swift track "All Too Well."
With Gosling recently showing off his vocal chops in "Barbie," on the Oscars stage and during a "Saturday Night Live" "All Too Well" parody with Blunt, it's notable that he abstains from breaking out in song. Why was that?
"I think he knows every line," Blunt says. But "you can't out-Swift Swift."
"You don't even want to try. He's not an idiot," Gosling says. "I think she was voicing his (feelings), you know. She had the words that he couldn't say. ... And he was so grateful in that moment."
Adds Blunt: "She has the words for all of our broken souls. That's the truth. I think Colt's a die-hard Taylor Swift fan, right?"
Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling vacationed with their families in Australia while filming
Making the film required Blunt and Gosling to travel to Sydney, where it was summer while North America was in winter − which was not a coincidence.
"It was great to escape the New York winter. I was delighted," Blunt says.
"We were supposed to shoot the film somewhere else. I won't say where, but it didn't seem like it would be as fun for my kids," says Gosling, who's one of the film's producers. "We all had a conversation about where it would be, and Australia was the perfect place."
He adds, "I've been lucky enough to have my my family come with me on every film I've made so far."
Gosling and Eva Mendes have two daughters, 9-year-old Esmeralda and 8-year-old Amada. Blunt and her husband, John Krasinski, also share two daughters: 10-year-old Hazel and 7-year-old Violet.
"Both our families were with us, so that obviously is essential if you're that far away. And it made it so much more effortless to be able to go to work knowing that we were all together," Blunt says. "It was wonderful. I didn't feel I had to juggle (work and parenting), thank God."
The ambitious action scenes in "The Fall Guy" are made all the more dramatic by the fact that they take place at some of Australia's most famous sights, including the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. Both venues had to be temporarily closed so Gosling and Blunt could film otherworldly fight scenes and heart-pounding car chases.
Shutting down the bridge was a bit of a full-circle moment for Gosling.
"I had been there 20 years earlier or something and climbed the bridge with my mom. And then got dragged across it this time," he says. "So I've had a really interesting relationship with that bridge.
"One of these days I'll just drive across it."
veryGood! (53)
Related
- Southern California rocked by series of earthquakes: Is a bigger one brewing?
- Tennessee turns over probe into failed Graceland sale to federal authorities, report says
- 5 people killed, teen girl injured in Las Vegas apartment shootings; manhunt ends with arrest
- You’ll Be Enchanted by Travis Kelce’s Budding Bromance With Taylor Swift’s Backup Dancer
- Bet365 ordered to refund $519K to customers who it paid less than they were entitled on sports bets
- New York Knicks acquiring Mikal Bridges in pricey trade with Brooklyn Nets. Who won?
- Enough signatures collected to force recall election for Wisconsin GOP leader, commission says
- Washington high court to decide if Seattle officers who attended Jan. 6 rally can remain anonymous
- Sonya Massey's family keeps eyes on 'full justice' one month after shooting
- GM brings in new CEO to steer troubled Cruise robotaxi service while Waymo ramps up in San Francisco
Ranking
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Texas man set for execution turns to God, says he's a changed man and 'deeply sorry'
- Why are the Texas Rangers the only MLB team without a Pride Night?
- Rip currents have turned deadly this summer. Here's how to spot them and what to do if you're caught in one.
- Kansas City Chiefs CEO's Daughter Ava Hunt Hospitalized After Falling Down a Mountain
- 2024 Tour de France: How to watch, schedule, odds for cycling's top race
- Bill to ensure access to contraception advances in Pennsylvania, aided by dozens of GOP House votes
- New Jersey man flies to Florida to attack another player over an online gaming dispute, deputies say
Recommendation
Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
New Jersey man flew to Florida to kill fellow gamer after online dispute, police say
Man who diverted national park river to ease boat access to Lake Michigan is put on probation
Vanderpump Rules Star Lala Kent Shares Pregnancy-Safe Skincare, Mom Hacks, Prime Day Deals & More
DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
Alec Baldwin attorneys say FBI testing damaged gun that killed cinematographer; claim evidence destroyed
‘Babies killing babies:' Teenagers charged in shooting that killed 3-year-old and wounded 7-year-old
Billy Ray Cyrus Accuses Ex Firerose of Physical, Emotional and Verbal Abuse Amid Divorce