How Ryan Gosling Shaped His Fall Guy Character & Upped The Movie's Romance

Summary Director David Leitch reveals Ryan Gosling significantly influenced the development of his character in The Fall Guy through his expertise in romance and comedy.

The film evolved from a noir to an action-packed rom-com, with Gosling's input emphasizing romance and fun over seriousness.

Gosling's influence promises a unique blend of action and humor in the movie, setting it up to be a successful and memorable part of his career.

The Fall Guy director David Leitch has revealed how Ryan Gosling shaped his character in the movie, as well as how the actor upped the romantic elements of the film. Goslings portrays Colt Seavers, an action movie stuntman tasked with finding the star of his latest film, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) after he goes missing. The movie also involves his crush on director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), part of the reason why he agrees to find the lost actor.

Speaking with Screen Rant ahead of The Fall Guy's release, Leitch revealed how influential Gosling was for Colt's development in the movie, as well as how he enhanced the romance present in the film. The director said planning stages for the movie had a noir tone, but the lead actor's influence led to it becoming more of an action-packed romantic comedy. Check out what Leitch had to say about Gosling's involvement below:

Ryan was completely influential in shaping this character. He came on early in the development process, the only actor we went to. And we had a conversation early on that was like, "Hey man, I'm good at romance. Have you seen The Notebook? And I did The Nice Guys, I can be funny. I just did this thing called Gray Man. I sort of dipped my toe into action, but I'd love to make The Fall Guy sort of something where I can do all of that stuff and really have fun with all of my skill sets." And so, from the development phase, he was really influential in creating this character, and even scene for scene all the way up to shooting, even into post, we were close collaborators on this project. It's funny, it started out as a noir, and we were going to do sort of an LA noir, but I think Ryan influenced Kelly McCormick, and [so did] our creative producer and Emily. There were a lot of influences, but we kept leaning more into fun. Ryan brought up the romance. Kelly was working on Emily's character to take her from makeup artist to director. The noirish investigation fell off, and we're starting to lean into this rom-com as we're developing the script in this sort of collaborative bubble. We just started to lean into the fun and what a beautiful experience it is to make movies and how we spread that joy in this film, so it was like fun choices overrode everything else we could make.

Why The Fall Guy Will Work As An Action Rom-Com

Gosling's influence on the movie shows in its promotional material, which promises a comedic tone mixed with fun action sequences as Colt searches for the missing star of Jody's movie. This includes everything from hand-to-hand combat to highly creative chase sequences where the hero puts his stuntman abilities to the test. Given the positive reviews The Fall Guy received following its premiere at SXSW in March, it seems the lead actor's influence helped make the movie stand out.

By having a lighter tone while also keeping its action exciting, the movie has an opportunity to showcase stunts and sequences it may not have been able to with a more serious, noir mood about it. Such a tonal difference may have also downplayed the relationship between Colt and Jody, which appears to be the heart of the final version. Had the movie been a more serious adaptation of the 1980s TV series it's based on, it may not have been as memorable as this finalized rendition is.

With Gosling's influence promising a fun rom-com with plenty of action, the upcoming movie is shaping up to be a memorable part of the actor's successful career. It also helps that directors like Steven Spielberg praised The Fall Guy for how it was crafted, indicating how it was the right choice for more romance and comedy to be added to the movie. Since Leitch is also clearly happy with how the finished product turned out, the film is shaping up to be a major success once it finally hits theaters.

The Fall Guy arrives in theaters on May 3, 2024.