David Leitch wants The Fall Guy to shine a light on one of Hollywood’s most underappreciated professions: stunt performers
Dec. 4, 2023Exclusive: The Fall Guy director talks stunts with Total Film
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David Leitch knows all about stunts. The Fall Guy director cut his teeth in Hollywood as a double for Brad Pitt, before co-directing John Wick, and striking out on his own helming the likes ofAtomic BlondeandBullet Train.
His next movie, The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling as stuntman Colt Seavers, is aiming to celebrate the art of falling down, getting back up, and generally putting yourself in harm’s way for the audience’s enjoyment – by being as authentic as possible.
“When we’re doing a movie about stunt people in this world of stunts, we just felt we had to be authentic to that, and do it practically.”
Leitch is hoping that The Fall Guy will give some much-needed kudos to the stunt performers who risk it all to bring action scenes to life on screen. “That was always one of the goals,” the director admits.
“I think that’s speaking to where we’re headed with the Academy. How can we get stunts recognised? Obviously there’s that, but it’s not about fame and glory and anything like that. They’d love to be able to celebrate with the rest of the below-the-line crew in the joy of making movies.”
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I’m the Editor at Total Film magazine, overseeing the running of the mag, and generally obsessing over all things Nolan, Kubrick and Pixar. Over the past decade I’ve worked in various roles for TF online and in print, including at GamesRadar+, and you can often hear me nattering on the Inside Total Film podcast. Bucket-list-ticking career highlights have included reporting from the set of Tenet and Avengers: Infinity War, as well as covering Comic-Con, TIFF and the Sundance Film Festival.
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