When it comes to Hollywood star power, it does not get much bigger than Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.
Both were nominated at The Academy Awards this year: Blunt for Oppenheimer and Gosling for Barbie and his portrayal of the ultimate himbo, Ken.
But with the Barbenheimer rivalry behind them, the pair have teamed up for a new blockbuster, The Fall Guy.
It’s about a stuntman (Gosling) who’s trying to track down an AWOL film star and win back his ex-girlfriend (Blunt).
WARNING: Minor plot details below.
The Fall Guy, which is based on the 1980s US television show of the same name, is a love letter to stunt performers.
At the start of the film, he is thrown from a 12-story building: “It took no skill on my part; I just got dropped.” But that was scary; it was a mental hurdle.”
Blunt may not be dropped from tremendous heights, but she does participate in stunts, fighting villains and being an extraterrestrial (or at least an actor costumed as an alien).
“Oh my God, she can make anything into a deadly weapon; I’m pleased you removed the props. “They don’t call her Stuntie Bluntie for nothing,” Gosling quips.
Blunt continues, “Stuntie Bluntie is sort of the word on the street now.”
The pair are split on who is the toughest: Gosling immediately says it is his co-star, joking that she was “planking” in a Pilates session the day before while everyone else was having a nap.
But Blunt says they are equally matched, telling Gosling: “I wouldn’t have done that fall you did at the beginning”.
They clearly get along well, both onscreen and in person.
British humour
And it turns out that may be down to Gosling’s love of the British sense of humour.
“I find Ryan endlessly funny,” Blunt says, “I probably would not find him so funny if he wasn’t as into British humour. He is a big fan of The Office (the British version), and he attends Ricky Gervais’ church.
Blunt and I compliment him on his sense of humour, but Gosling accuses us of mocking him, which we deny.
“I’m kidding,” he fires back. “I’ve got the sarcasm.”
Gosling may have been joking, but the stress I felt when I thought I had upset Ken was through the roof.
Speaking of Ken, I could not resist bringing up *that* I’m Just Ken performance at the Oscars.
I tell Gosling I would find doing a song and dance routine on live television more terrifying than the stunts in the Fall Guy.
He laughs: “Especially when you are performing for Emily Blunt, who looks at you and says ‘nope, thumbs down.'”
“That is all he saw when he looked out; everyone else was ecstatic, and I was like ‘ugh’,” Blunt says, before quickly adding, “No, I thought it was absolutely phenomenal.”
“It was scary,” Gosling admits, “But my kids and Eva (Mendes, his partner) came to the dress rehearsal the day before; that was the real performance for me. That was the one I was most nervous about, so it was actually easy after that.”
“They gave you some pointers,” Blunt jokes.
Blunt has her own musical performance in The Fall Guy, singing Against All Odds by Phil Collins. It’s a far cry from her numerous numbers in Mary Poppins Returns.
I ask if she fancies performing at next year’s Academy Awards and she quickly replies: “Oh God, no!
“That’s what I said. Don’t speak too soon,” Gosling warns.
Gosling says he is keen to throw the spotlight on stunt performers as the unsung heroes of the film industry in his latest film.
“The better they do their job, the more they disappear. It comes to an end now. “We’re flipping the script.”
Both performers believe the Academy Awards should honour stuntmen and women. “Right now! “Why not before?” Blunt exclaims.
She continues: “They’ve prepared for this; they have fortitude beyond words, and I think since there is an inbuilt humility with stunt performers, they don’t feel the need to flaunt what
“They risk more than anyone. Their work is an art form; it is as designed as make-up, costumes, and everything else.” Gosling says.
‘Sweat-drenched spectacle’
The film is one of the big blockbusters to be released this year and has had positive reviews so far.
The Independent calls it a “Sweat-drenched spectacle that celebrates the harmonious union between heart-stopping stunt work and charismatic movie stars.”
It adds that Gosling “brings a little screwball energy to the role of seasoned stuntman Colt Seavers”.
“It’s all a fizzy, funny, convincingly romantic delight, a tribute to the craft of making big movies with big stunts,” says The Guardian.
According to New York Magazine, the film is “a pure act of movie love, mixing and matching genres.”
But what do Blunt and Gosling’s own children think of their films?
It turns out they are quite critical of their famous parents.
Both laugh that their own kids are “disinterested” in their work.
“They just want us to be their parents,” Blunt says. “My children have seen Mary Poppins once and Jungle Cruise once, and that is it for them.”
“My kids have seen Mary Poppins many times,” Gosling says, before Blunt adds that her daughters are “Ken mad.”
“It’s the way it should be,” she laughs,.”Your kids just want you in your sweat pants at home, held together with duct tape, trying to get them out of the door.”