We’ll cop to not being the world’s biggest fans of action director David Leitch, whose movies are always four or five drafts away from being something truly great — you usually wind up with something like that one great action sequence at the heart of Atomic Blonde surrounded by an island of frustration as to why the whole movie can’t be like that — but we’ve got to say that we’re really interested in his latest, The Fall Guy, which is an adaptation of the ’80s TV show filtered through the lens of Leitch’s own experience as a stuntman (also, if you’re wondering why this isn’t called The Stunt Man, well, you’ve got a great movie to watch). Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt lead a cast stacked with some pretty big names, and this trailer that Universal dropped earlier on Wednesday does a pretty good job of selling this on its merits.
Peep it:
Though this isn’t the longest synopsis we’ve ever seen from a major studio — that honor still goes to Judas and the Black Messiah — this is pretty fucking close to it:
“He’s a stuntman, and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right?
From real life stunt man and director David Leitch, the blockbuster director of ‘Bullet Train,’ ‘Deadpool 2,’ ‘Atomic Blonde’ and ‘Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw’ and the producer of ‘John Wick,’ ‘Nobody’ and ‘Violent Night,’ comes his most personal film yet. A new hilarious, hard-driving, all-star apex-action thriller and love letter to action movies and the hard-working and under-appreciated crew of people who make them: ‘The Fall Guy.’
Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (‘Barbie,’ ‘La La Land,’ ‘Drive)’ stars as Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred stuntman who, having left the business a year earlier to focus on both his physical and mental health, is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie—being directed by his ex, Jody Moreno, played by Golden Globe winner Emily Blunt (‘Oppenheimer,’ ‘A Quiet Place’ films, ‘Sicario’)—goes missing. While the film’s ruthless producer (Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham; ‘Ted Lasso’), maneuvers to keep the disappearance of star Tom Ryder (Golden Globe winner Aaron Taylor-Johnson; ‘Bullet Train’) a secret from the studio and the media, Colt performs the film’s most outrageous stunts while trying (with limited success) to charm his way back into Jody’s good graces. But as the mystery around the missing star deepens, Colt will find himself ensnared in a sinister, criminal plot that will push him to the edge of a fall more dangerous than any stunt.”
The Fall Guy will hit theaters on March 1, which should be right around the time you finish reading all that above.