Based on first reactions to The Fall Guy, test audiences are loving the campy action movie starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. The upcoming action rom-com focuses on Colt Seavers (Gosling), a former stuntman who returns to the business after an existential crisis when a star of a high-budget studio movie goes missing. The Fall Guy cast includes Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Hannah Waddingham.
As per Collider, the initial test screen reactions to The Fall Guy have been revealed. Director David Leitch and producer Kelly McCormick explained that test audiences “love how fun the movie is.” Leitch thinks this is partially due to the chemistry between Gosling and Blunt, which McCormick backed up by saying that the test screenings taught them a valuable lesson about including “more of the relationship, character-building, and a little less action at times.” Check out the full quotes from Leitch and McCormick below:
LEITCH: Well, it’s testing incredibly well, and it is a crowd-pleaser. I think people love the chemistry between Ryan and Emily and they love how fun the movie is. Look, like Kelly said, he’s like a blue-collar hero. It’s an underdog story of a guy who self-actualizes into this superhero, and he gets to take down the bad guys and potentially, hopefully, get the love of his life back. And so, as one of our cast members says, “If you didn’t enjoy this movie, you don’t have a soul.” [Laughs] It’s a really fun film that celebrates the below-the-line crews and, really, the blue-collar artisans that make the movies happen, and it’s a separation of movies and moviemaking.
MCCORMICK: Yeah, that’s one of the things we were worried about when we were going into testing. Were people gonna think it was too insider baseball and not sort of appreciate the world that they walked into? And the truth is they were actually really game for it. I think that has a lot to do with the way that David can create these worlds that are real but kind of curate it if that makes sense, and this is just a different backdrop to do that in. But they were really game for the experience, and that was really nice to see.
If anything, I mean, I guess the lesson for us was they wanted more and more of the relationship, character-building, and a little less action at times. So we calibrated it that way, interestingly, although there’s still a sh*t ton of action in it. They just kind of plotted more character, but yeah. But no, from moment “go” it tested incredibly well.
Why The Fall Guy Is So Promising
One of the reasons for the huge anticipation for the movie stems from the leading action star Gosling, who has become one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood. This trend is evidenced most recently in his role as Ken in Barbie, in which the actor received near-universal praise for his performance and comedy. Beyond comedy movies, Gosling has a string of action movies, including Drive, The Gray Man, and Blade Runner 2049.
Giving a vibe of the actor’s past movies, The Fall Guy trailer revealed Gosling as an unusual and unsuspecting action hero who steps in only when actor Tom Ryder (Taylor-Johnson) goes missing. The trailer also hints at a nemesis-turned-romance plot line between Blunt and Gosling, which was singled by McCormick and Leitch’s most recent statements about the test screening reactions.
Although the action movie won’t be released for another five months, there is already high anticipation. Hopefully, this interplay between exhilarating action sequences, sizzling romance, and more tender character moments will be well-realized when The Fall Guy comes to theaters soon.
Key Release Dates
The Fall Guy
Release Date:2024-03-01
