"You find Ryder, save Jody's film, you get the love of your life back."
— Gail
The Fall Guy is a 2024 action film based upon the 1981 television series of the same name. It is directed by David Leitch, written by Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3, Hobbs & Shaw), and stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Stephanie Hsu, Winston Duke, Teresa Palmer, and Hannah Waddingham.
Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a veteran stunt performer who's recruited to locate the missing star of his director ex-girlfriend Jody Moreno's big budget sci-fi film, only to stumble upon a dangerous mystery that will require all his stunt skills in order to survive. The film will release May 3, 2024.
As with the show, the film bears no connection to the similarly named video game Fall Guys.
Previews: Trailer 1
, Trailer 2
The Fall Guy provides examples of:
- Adaptational Job Change: In the TV series, Jody is a fellow stunt performer alongside Colt. In the film, she starts as a camera operator and becomes a film director.
- Adaptation Name Change: Jody's last name is changed from "Banks" in the TV series to "Moreno" in the film.
- Adaptational Nationality: Jody, an American in the TV series, is British in the film.
- Big Bad Ass Battle Sequence: Metalstorm has several, and a fair chunk of the plot is devoted to filming them.
- Brick Joke: While Colt and Dan are searching the hundreds of Post-its covering Ryder's home looking for the password for his phone, they come across one of them that has "Mu-moa or Mo-moa?" written on it. Come the final scene of the movie, and an In-Universe trailer reveals that Jason Momoa has replaced Ryder as the star of the now completed Metalstorm.
- Digital Head Swap: Given it's a film about a
Stunt Double on a big-budget movie, this comes up several times in the plot. Most notably, Jody takes advantage of Tom Ryder's absence and Colt's presence to film bigger, more impressive action scenes and then replace Colt's face with Ryder's in post, because Colt is much better at filming action scenes. After The Reveal, we see that Gail has used a Digital Head Swap to frame Colt for an Accidental Murder. - Double-Meaning Title: Colt works as a "fall guy" — i.e. a stuntman, taking falls (and hits, and fire). We eventually learn he's being set up to take the fall for an Accidental Murder.
- Film Within a Film: Metalstorm, the film that Jody and Colt are making, which can best be described as a cross between Mad Max: Fury Road and Dune (2021). We see snippets of the final film through the production.
- Gas Lighting: Gail makes extensive use of this to manipulate and bamboozle both Colt and Jody combined with sheer Motor Mouth bluster and Blatant Lies. Eventually it loses its effectiveness when Colt and Jody realize what is going on and Gail lets slip their contempt for Jody by condescendingly noting how 'mailable' she has been.
- Got Me Doing It: Jody ends up using Colt's finger gun gesture herself which she previously detested. Embarrassed, she tells Colt "You Didn't See That".
- Karma Houdini: Ryder's girlfriend Iggy Starr was a part of the plot to frame Colt for murder, and yet the final scene in the movie reveals that apparently she was not replaced as the female lead in Metalstorm, implying she got away scot-free.
- A Lizard Named "Liz": The main female character in Metalstorm is a female alien named Aliana.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: This exchange between Colt and Jody in a car:Jody: We need to keep it super profesh.Colt: Profesh is my middle name.Jody: You said your middle name is Danger.
- My Greatest Failure: Colt blames himself for the stunt-gone-wrong that ended his career and his relationship with Jody. We learn later in the film that Colt's accident was engineered by Tom.
- The Oner: The film's prologue is all shot in a single take, right up until Colt's career-ending injury. Later in the film, the concept on the Oner is referenced by Jodie when she's pitching ideas for Metalstorm.
- Overly Long Gag: Colt's attempts to get into Ryder's hotel room. It takes him quite a while due to the key card for the room not working. He tries it several times, goes down to the front desk to get it fixed, tries the new card only for it not to work again, so he decides to simply break in and finds someone dead in the bathtub.
- The Prima Donna: Tom Ryder. Even his longtime producer, Gail, acknowledges that he's an asshole to work with. His diva antics go so far as trying to kill two of his stunt doubles — and succeeding once.
- Scary Teeth: There is a shot in the trailer of a gangster smiling at the camera with an intimidating grill.
- Space Western: Metalstorm, the Film Within a Film, is described this way. The protagonist is only ever referred to as "the Space Cowboy".
- Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: Where does a Hollywood movie star and/or movie producer get a hold of couple of dozen mercenaries willing to kill, kidnap and frame people at the drop of a hat?
- Working with the Ex: Colt and Jody dated on a previous production, and their breakup was not amicable. When Jody learns that Colt has been hired, she's furious.
"You fall down, you get right back up. How far would you go for the one that you love?"
