Ryan GoslingandEmily Bluntare bringing explosive chemistry and literal explosions to the screen.
RYAN GOSLING:The day that Emily was too chill!
EMILY BLUNT:Yeah, this storys ridiculous.
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in ‘The Fall Guy’.Eric Laciste/Universal Pictures
I was having a quiet little 22-minute meditation to myself, at which point my door blew open.
I was meditating, and now he thinks I meditate too much.
GOSLING:I thought you were too chill.
Ryan Gosling in ‘The Fall Guy’.Universal Pictures
This is a problem!
Youre too zen, wading out in this knee-deep water.
BLUNT:The trailers were floating away.
Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in ‘The Fall Guy’.Universal Pictures
Scott was just listening to Spotify.
GOSLING:I think he got washed away.
I just saw his hands above the surface.
He was still very much in character.
Just a regular, run-of-the-mill day on set in Australia.
We went to Australia for the weather, and thats what we ended up with.
From what I understand, you were actually being towed behind a garbage truck, right?
Its a great way to see Sydney.
I highly recommend it.
That chase took place over the course of a month, and thats really how I saw the city.
I got the garbage truck tour.
I was like, That was a weird dream.
Maybe it was a nightmare?
BLUNT:But you did it!
I cant seem to just drive across it like a normal person.
Did you get any helpful insights or information from him about what its really like?
Ben Jenkin, who was one of Ryans stunt doubles, did the fire burn.
I want to do it!
And if its not too much to ask, could you also hit me with a car?
What was it like to work with all these different experts in all these different fields?
GOSLING:Its scary.
You understand how much could go wrong.
Logan Holladay worked on that cannon roll scene that he ended up breaking the world record for.
We knew he was trying to break the record, so we were rooting for him, obviously.
But at the same time, its eight and a half [rolls].
Theres a reason no one has done that, and theres a reason that theyre rare.
The weather has to be right.
The sand density had to be right.
BLUNT:Once the car stops rolling, youre just waiting.
He called his mom right afterward, and his dad was there.
How did making this movie give you a new appreciation for the world of stunts?
BLUNT:For me, it just heightened it even more.
We were paying such close attention to it because we were literally filming and creating a movie around them.
But Ive always just had the most endless gratitude and appreciation for what they do.
Theyre some of the best people on a film set.
Theyre the kindest, most humble, and most selfless people.
GOSLING:There was a moment when we were writing where I was talking to David about it.
I was trying to understand the experience of it, and he said, Well, it all hurts.
Getting hit by a car hurts.
Getting set on fire hurts.
And getting thrown out of a windowreallyhurts.
I thought, well, we have to put that in the movie verbatim.
Theres this expectation for them to give the thumbs up.
Theres this sense that theyre the ones that everyone doesnt have to worry about.
In a way, they make our safety the priority over their own.
Youre just getting hit by a car.
GOSLING:I love hearing them talk about the science of the stunt and the engineering of it all.
I havent had a similar experience since I did this filmFirst Man,and I was meeting with astronauts.
Theyre both a special breed, where theyre both brilliant and fearless.
They design this action.
How did you two want to approach this love story?
BLUNT:Theres a kind of nostalgia for the action-romance.
I mean, it was so up my alley growing up.
Theyre so unslick, the two of them.
But I think we wanted to approach it in a really free-wheeling way that felt grounded.
Its what I love about David Leitchs movies: Theyre usually really stylistic but very grounded still.
Theyre sort of a wonderful mirror image of what we were trying to build with Colt and Jody.
Tell me everything about filming that sequence.
GOSLING:I remember I cried too hard, and they cut it out.
There were so many tears.
BLUNT:The amount of tears they cut in post was almost hysterical, actually.
GOSLING:It was a moment for Colt to really get it out.
All Too Well came on, and he had a good car cry.
I mean, hed been through a lot.
BLUNT:Hed just been set on fire.
GOSLING:So yeah, that song comes on, youre going to let it rip.
Someone comes to shame you for hysterically crying.
So, do you each have a personal cry-in-the-car song?
BLUNT:I find I cry on planes more.
I wept toBilly Elliotthe other day.
I just lost it.
Im more of a plane crier.
Its the element of surprise and the solitude.
BLUNT:There are many wonderful sad songs I can think of.
GOSLING:Push It, right?
That really gets you?
When Push It comes on, its just like waterworks.
BLUNT:[Laughs] No Diggity comes on, and its just like, forget it!
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
