“Don’t worry, I’m not going to sing — I promise” beamed Fall Guy star Ryan Gosling to a crowded Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX tonight.
He promptly received an immediate collection of “Awws” and “Boos” at the world premiere of the Universal title at SXSW. That’s not a bad thing: a number of people are still riding high from his amazing Oscar performance of nominated song “I’m Just Ken”.
Similar to Amazon MGM’s Road House, this fire-ablazing, cars-a-crashing movie played to loud laughs and big cheers. The start of summer during the first weekend of May is missing a Marvel film, but, wow, this action movie inspired by the hit 1980s TV show is a great back-up plan.
“I want to say, I’m Ryan Gosling and I did almost none of my stunts in this movie,” to great cheers.
Gosling gave a shoutout to his stuntman, Logan Holiday, who broke the Guiness World Record for the most canon rolls in this movie. “Eight and half rolls,” explained Gosling to great laughs, “There’s a moment in the film where he buckles me in for a stunt he’s about to do, and after it happens, I come out of the car and he pats me on the back for a stunt he just did.”
“How fu**ed up is that?!” he said.
“It’s an opportunity to finally acknowledge the stunt performers, the incredible contribution they make to movies,” said Gosling.
“We hope it’s reflective of how much the crew gives,” said the actor during the post screening Q&A.
Leitch said that Gosling was brought in quite early, and that the movie was “a love letter to stuntmen”. The investigation part of the plot was always in place, but the love story element between Gosling and Emily Blunt’s character was added in.
Leitch asked how the crowd if they enjoyed the romantic part of the storyline and the house went nuts.
“This film is really personal to me, having been a stunt man for 20 years, it’s amazing that Ryan (Gosling) could bring that to life,” said Leitch.
SXSW was a special place for Leitch as it’s where he world premiered Atomic Blonde, which went on to make $51M at the late summer domestic box office.