The Fall Guy Director Reveals the Stunt He Botched on a Brad Pitt Film

Before he was widely known as one of the most promising action and comedy filmmakers of the last ten years, The Fall Guy director David Leitch was a stuntman -- and, just like in The Fall Guy, not everything always went right. The Fall Guy, which is an adaptation of The Fall Guy television series, stars Barbie's Ryan Gosling alongside Oppenheimer's Emily Blunt, and it's expected to kick off the summer movie season in a big way -- something that makes sense given that it features actors from last summer's biggest hits. The Fall Guy is directed by David Leitch (Deadpool 2), marking the latest in a series of big projects populated by the folks who made the Deadpool franchise a surprise mega-hit.

Looking back on his earlier career, Leitch shared with ComicBook.com a memory he's recounted before -- about doubling for Brad Pitt in The Mexican and inadvertently ending the whole day at 9 a.m. In hindsight, as improbable as it sounds, he probably made the right call, though...!

"I don't know if I've recoutned this to you before, but I ruined a take on The Mexican, where I crashed the El Camino into the only other El Camino we had," Leitch told ComicBook.com. "We were like three hours south of Mexico City, and I was trying to do this stunt, slide the car, and I overcorrected, and it was either video village or the other El Camino, and I obviously chose the other El Camino. So...we wrapped for the day, and it was only 9 a.m."

In The Fall Guy, Gosling plays Colt Seavers, an out-of-work stuntman who finally manages to land a job...but then the star of the film he's working on goes missing. Blunt is playing a prosthetic makeup artist who is also Colt's ex. The film also stars Hannah Waddingham as the producer of the troubled film, and Winston Duke plays as Colt's best friend. Other members of the cast include Stephanie Hsu and Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Kelly McCormick is partnering as a producer on the project with a script from Drew Pearce who also worked with Leitch on Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. Gosling will also serve as a producer with original series creator Glen A. Larson executive producing. 

Here's the official synopsis for The Fall Guy:

Here's how Universal describes The Fall Guy: "He's a stuntman, and like everyone in the stunt community, he gets blown up, shot, crashed, thrown through windows, and dropped from the highest of heights, all for our entertainment. And now, fresh off an almost career-ending accident, this working-class hero has to track down a missing movie star, solve a conspiracy and try to win back the love of his life while still doing his day job. What could possibly go right?

From real life stunt man and director David Leitch, the blockbuster director of Bullet Train, Deadpool 2, Atomic Blonde and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw and the producer of John Wick, Nobody, and Violent Night, comes his most personal film yet. A new hilarious, hard-driving, all-star apex-action thriller, and love letter to action movies and the hard-working and under-appreciated crew of people who make them: The Fall Guy."

The Fall Guy is in theaters on May 3.