Editor's Note: The interview contains spoilers for The Fall Guy.
The Big Picture
- Collider's Steve Weintraub speaks with The Fall Guy co-stars Winston Duke and Hannah Waddingham about their collaboration on set with director David Leitch.
- The duo shares why The Fall Guy set was so collaborative, how their roles expanded their knowledge of other aspects of a film set, the inspiration for their characters, and the unfinished third act of the movie.
- Duke and Waddingham also discuss the importance of stunt recognition at the Oscars and the support of audiences and the industry.
David Leitch's latest, The Fall Guy, is resonating across Hollywood. Aside from starring two Oscar nominees, Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer), the former stuntman's feature is bringing some serious behind-the-scenes topics to the forefront in regard to stunt performers and the integral work they do on movie sets.
The Fall Guy is about a stunt performer, Colt Seavers (Gosling), who had quit the business a year earlier only to find himself involved in the mysterious disappearance of action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Tasked with finding the A-lister and saving his ex-girlfriend's movie, first-time filmmaker Jody Moreno (Blunt), Colt finds himself in over his head in a sinister plot that turns his world upside down.
During an interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub, co-stars Winston Duke (Black Panther) and Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) discuss their experience working with Leitch on set, telling us that the level of collaboration is unmatched. They talk about the third act of the movie and how it was up in the air during production, the inspiration behind Waddingham's character, and why stunts being recognized at the Academy Awards affects everyone. You can watch the full conversation in the video above, or you can read the full transcript below.
The Fall Guy
PG-13
910
Colt Seavers is a stuntman who left the business a year earlier to focus on both his physical and mental health. He's drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie, which is being directed by his ex, goes missing.
- Release Date
- May 3, 2024
- Director
- David Leitch
- Cast
- Emily Blunt , Hannah Waddingham , Ryan Gosling , Aaron Taylor-Johnson , Stephanie Hsu , Teresa Palmer
- Runtime
- 114 minutes
- Main Genre
- Action
- Writers
- Drew Pearce , Glen A. Larson
Read Our 'The Fall Guy' Review
'The Fall Guy' Set Was a Safe Space for the Cast to Collaborate
"You have this sense of ownership you don't always get on projects."
COLLIDER: First of all, let me say what everyone is saying, which is, this movie is f*cking awesome. I don’t know what else to say.
HANNAH WADDINGHAM: Oh yeah, baby!
WINSTON DUKE: “Everything is awesome!”
I try not to curse, but this movie deserves it. The thing about movies, and you guys both know this, is you could have a great script, great director, great actors, and it doesn't come together. But with this everything works — the mystery, the comedy, the action, the chemistry. At what point, for both of you, did you realize, “Oh, wait. This movie might be something really special?”
WADDINGHAM: Really early on.
DUKE: Yeah, really early on. I think in the process of us working together. It was a lot of improv on set, and it was a safe space just to throw things out, and when you have a director that's saying, “Yeah, that's great. Give me more. What do you think? What would you do? Oh my god.”
WADDINGHAM: “Let's just do a bunch of takes and then see what sticks.”
DUKE: So it wasn't just, “One for fun.” It was a bunch of takes for fun, and when you have that kind of working environment, you also have this sense of ownership that you don't always get on projects. You always know that it’s special when that happens.
WADDINGHAM: But that came from David Leitch and from Ryan producing together. They have an ease together. My first day on set with them, there was David, Ryan, Kelly McCormick, our producer, all of us just literally brainstorming about who Gail should be. And it’s so lovely that they barely knew me, but they were like, “What do you think?” You tiptoe into it, but once those conversations have happened, and you know that they've totally got your backs, then you just run and run, and go.
Why Nominating Stunts at the Oscars Should Matter to Everyone
This is probably the most important question I'm gonna ask today…
WADDINGHAM: Come on.
What do we need to do to get stunts in the awards talk?
DUKE: Allyship. We need everyone to be talking about this. We need amplification. We need everyone to understand that recognition makes everyone count, and when people count, they do better work. When more people are invested, and everyone's invested, there becomes more oversight, so now everything is better. It becomes safer. And stunts, a big part of it is the safety. So, one of the biggest genres that shares movies to the entire world is action. The action genre is the backbone of this entire industry, and who makes that happen? The stunt crew. So you can't ignore them. They count.
WADDINGHAM: But I'd love to know, when these awards are decided upon, why is it other departments are seen before them? It's completely ludicrous.
I completely agree. I think it's outrageous, and it's about time. I love that in the movie they talk about it. The characters acknowledge it. I really do hope that this is a springboard to more people talking about it for people deserving of their craft.
DUKE: Absolutely.
Related
Don’t Bait Us, Oscars, Just Give Us a Stunt Category!
Giving the industry's stunt-workers their owed recognition shouldn't be this much of a leap.
So, I definitely have an individual question for you. You're playing a stunt coordinator in a movie about stunt coordinators and how important stunts are. How much pressure is that when you're surrounded by the all-star lineup of stunt people?
DUKE: I think it was less pressure and more excitement, and more learning. I had no idea how much responsibility it took to be the stunt coordinator on a set. So, coming to it from an acting background, I'm just responsible for my piece, right? I'm just responsible for my stunts and working with my partner. But watching the stunt coordinator, which was Chris O'Hara on our set, watching him protect the entire set — make sure that everyone's outside of a blast radius, making sure that everyone gets home safe, not just the actors, but your extras, every single person — and doing that with a calm face and a smile on your face? I'd never really fully contextualized it, and that was a great opportunity for me.
Individual question for you, [Hannah]. Talk about the challenges of working with “The Badger.”
WADDINGHAM: [Laughs] I mean, she was a challenge. She was a challenge, but informed me on how I wanted to take the character. I had known a director-slash-producer that was entirely self absorbed and definitely not there for the greater good, ultimately, with far too many Yes Men and Women around them. So when we decided that we were gonna give me this kind of deep disguise, it was so much fun to get involved with that and decide that I wanted to kind of emulate Kelly McCormick with the rest of the funky look that she has, and the glasses and everything. It's amazing how when you completely shelf your own appearance, you can so much really go into a really fun zone and see what you can bring out.
One of the things about your character, [Hannah], is you need to make the audience care about her, but also be completely self-centered. Talk about that line.
WADDINGHAM: That's a great question. I was constantly checking in with David about what side of the line I was. She had to be absolutely rooted in truth. You had to totally buy why she wants Colt back on that set. You have to totally buy that they have this 15-year-old history. You have to totally buy that she thinks that Jody is the greatest up-and-coming director. Then I said to him, “Please tell me if you're getting any whiff, blink, anything. I don't want the audience to guess where we're going with this.” And then when I do go, I want you to totally believe that she's not just this ridiculous over-the-top character. She lives and breathes it, and has completely skewed the lines. She has no foot in reality at all anymore.
100%.
I like learning about the behind-the-scenes of the making of movies, so for both of you, for soon-to-be fans of this film, what do you think would surprise them to learn about the making of the film?
WADDINGHAM: That it was more meta than anyone can possibly believe. We literally didn't have a third act, but that was the beauty of it. At first you arrive, and you're like, “Wait, what?” So the script is like the skeleton in the background [laughs], and we're playing and playing and playing. Then you get to the point where you're like, “So we're getting to where we decide that we don't have a third act of the movie, and we really don't have a third act of the movie.” [Laughs]
I mean, that's a line in the film, and I'm like, “Is that based on truth?”
WADDINGHAM: 100%.But you have to know that we were in such a safe environment that we were all, a bit by then, just rubbing our hands together, thinking, “Woohoo! Where are we going?”
DUKE: Absolutely. I think, for me, I would say how many people it takes on the different types of jobs that are on sets. I think a lot of people have no idea what that is. Unfortunately, bad news travels a lot faster than good news and what's wrong is so much more amplified than what is right.
The Fall Guy is in theaters now. Click below for showtimes.
