Universal Studios Hollywood premiered “The Fall Guy Stuntacular Pre-Show” at the “WaterWorld” set on Saturday. The live stunt performance, featuring Ryan Gosling and “The Fall Guy” director David Leitch, came six days before “The Fall Guy” hits theaters May 3.
The “Stuntacular Pre-Show” premiere was staged as the stunt performers’ final dress rehearsal and dedicated to the hard work of stunt people across the industry. It starred Gosling, Leitch and the pre-show’s disgruntled director, who was desperate to prove his show was just as “Stuntacular” as “The Fall Guy” movie.
“This is a live show based on a movie, based on a TV show, based on a real stuntman! We are not going to have average stunts,” the director screamed at Gosling before calling “action.” The pre-show saw performers doing backflips on jet skis, riding dirt bikes through the audience and diving off towering platforms into water.
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Following the stunt showcase, Leitch and Gosling took the stage for a Q&A moderated by a member of the Universal Studios team. When asked about the correlations between the pre-show and “The Fall Guy,” Gosling noted that his character in the film is a stunt performer who “started in a stunt show like this.”
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“A lot of great stunt people do. This is really where it all starts, and they really are the hardest working people in show business,” Gosling said. “It’s a kind of a full circle moment for us to be back here today.”
Leitch, who was a stuntman for 25 years, added that “The Fall Guy” was made as a tribute not only to stunt performers but to all people who work production behind the camera.
“‘The Fall Guy’ is a love letter to all the people behind the scenes making the magic on the screen… [it’s about] their lives and telling a story within their world,” Leitch said. “It’s a really personal film for me. There are a lot of stories we got to pull from…it [was] really fun.”
