The Fall Guy’s director David Leitch said breaking the world record for cannon rolls was planned: 'It was something that we wanted’
Leith said breaking the world record wasn't necessary but the team insisted on it.
Even before the film has been released, The Fall Guy made headlines for breaking the world record for the most cannon rolls in a car - 8.5.
Logan Holladay, stunt driver for actor Ryan Gosling in the film, performed the stunt and received his certificate at a special preview screening in Los Angeles in March.
Speaking to Yahoo Southeast Asia in Los Angeles earlier this month, director David Leitch said that breaking the world record was “something that we wanted”. After all, The Fall Guy is a cinematic love letter to the stunt community.
Leitch, 48, said, “We really wanted to do next level stunts, like in the spirit of these classics. And I challenged the stunt team to be like, if we're going to do this and tell a story about stunt people and celebrate our industry, we better do some epic stuff. And so I actually wrote in the script Colt breaks the world record.”
His stunt team “took it to heart” and wondered how they were going to break the world record even though Leitch clarified that they didn’t have to.
“So they went on to work for five months testing, researching physics, math, working with the facts. It was a long process to make that happen, but we did it.”
A cannon roll is a stunt where a cannon-like apparatus that shoots towards the ground is fitted beneath a car. When the vehicle reaches a designated speed, the mechanism triggers and propels the car into a series of rolls.
Mixed emotions
When attempting the stunt for real, Leitch said there was tension in the air when everyone was watching it.
“Even though you know you’ve done everything to mitigate the risk, there's still the off chance that somebody could get hurt, and that the consequences are pretty high of that injury being really bad,” he explained.
Leitch described, “So there's always that tension, but then there's also the expectation, like, hopefully we can break the record, so you're like, weirdly counting the rolls?”
He also added that there was cheering mixed in with a concern about whether Holladay was okay.
“It’s all mixed emotions until you see the thumbs up. And when you see the thumbs up, you know we did it, and then it was like ecstatic, celebration, like everyone cheering and hugging and it was amazing.”
Inspired by the hit 1980s TV series, The Fall Guy stars Gosling as Colt Seavers, a battle-scarred stuntman who left the business to focus on both his physical and mental health, but is drafted back into service when the star of a mega-budget studio movie - directed by his ex, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) - goes missing.
The movie also stars Winston Duke, Hannah Waddingham, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Stephanie Hsu.
The Fall Guy will be released in local cinemas on 25 April.
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