David Leitch’s upcoming blockbuster “The Fall Guy” marks a Barbenheimer reunion, featuring “Oppenheimer” star Emily Blunt alongside “Barbie” Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling in a story about a stunt artist trying to solve a mystery and save his ex-wife’s film. . And according to Blunt, the biggest Hollywood event of 2023 could make its presence felt in other ways as well.
In a new interview with Total Film, Blunt talked about looking to her Hollywood peers for inspiration as she created the character of Jody, a director who gets a big break directing a studio blockbuster that quickly goes off the rails. She cites “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig as an example of positive filmmaking traits she strives to emulate.
“With warmth and charm, I think there’s a bit of Greta,” Blunt said of the character. “It was a combination of some other people I had met and pulled from.”
In the same interview, Leech’s producing partner and wife Kelly McCormick explained how Jodi’s role evolved from makeup artist to director, to raise the stakes of the film.
“Emily’s role was a makeup artist when we sold it, and we turned it into directing for the first time even before we gave her a very rough draft,” McCormick said. “He felt like (the character) had more pressure on him.”
Early responses to “The Fall Guy” have been positive, with many critics praising Leitch’s film as a star-studded event film that evokes the best traditions of Hollywood popcorn filmmaking.
The humor in ‘The Fall Guy’ is silly, which works constantly; The pair’s ‘big break’ is directing the sci-fi epic ‘Metalstorm’ and Leitch and company are having a lot of fun playing with the alien costumes of the film-within-a-film. And the story is very self-aware, which mostly works,” Katie Rife wrote in her IndieWire review of the film after its SXSW premiere. “This is popcorn filmmaking at its most cheerful and upbeat, powered by cheeky needle drops (the KISS disco hit ‘I Was Made for Loving You’ serves as the unofficial theme song), rousing action and movie stars.”
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