Two-time Oscar nominee,Ryan Gosling, has signed on to star in an untitled stuntman drama fromDeadpool 2director David Leitch. After a heated auction, the movie has now landed at Universal Pictures, with the studio reportedly beating out Netflix, MGM, Sony and Lionsgate.
Leitch is teaming up once again with screenwriter Drew Pearce for theRyan Gosling Stuntman Drama, with the pair having recently worked together on the action-packedFast and Furiousspin-off,Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw. Gosling will produce the project alongside Leitch and his 87North partner Kelly McCormick, as well as Guymon Casady of Entertainment 360, which is the content arm of Management 360.
Not much is yet known about the project other than the plot’s focus on a stuntman, with the movie believed to be in the same vein as the 1980s television series,The Fall Guy, if not in fact an outright adaptation. For those unaware,The Fall Guyfollows Hollywood stuntman, Colt Seavers, who makes extra cash by moonlighting as a bounty hunter when movie stunt work runs low. Using his rough-and-tumble skills to track and capture bail jumpers, Seavers is helped on his bounty hunting adventures by his younger cousin, Howie, and Jody, a beautiful stunt colleague. The show ran from 1981 to 1986 and starred Lee Majors as Colt Seavers.
Whether the Gosling-Leitch project is related toThe Fall Guyor not remains to be seen, but with the appetite for 80s reboots at an all-time high, and withThe Fall Guy’sdelightful concept ripe for an action movie update, even a loose adaptation fronted by Gosling and helmed byDavid Leitchmakes a lot of sense.
In any case, the project is likely a very personal one for Leitch, who worked as a former stuntman himself before moving into directing. He and fellow stuntman Chad Stahelski teamed up toco-direct the first John Wickback in 2014, and since then both of their filmmaking careers have taken off. Leitch helmed the excellent 80s-set spy thriller,Atomic Blonde, with Charlize Theron before moving into the comic book genre for stellar sequel,Deadpool 2. Leitch’s most recent foray into the action movie world saw the director working with genre icons Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Jason Statham inFast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw. The spin-off was a huge financial success, with a sequel quickly confirmed.
Gosling meanwhile is no stranger to playing a stuntman, with the actor having already played similar roles first in director Nicolas Winding Refn’sDrivein 2011, and then a year later in 2012’sThe Place Beyond the Pines. The former saw Gosling’s stuntman moonlighting as a getaway driver, while the latter saw Gosling as a stunt rider who’s foray into robbery sets him on a collision course with a police officer.
Aside from teaming up for this stuntman movie, both Leitch and Gosling have several intriguing projects on the horizon. Leitch is currently prepping the action movieBullet Trainstarring Brad Pitt and Joey King, as well as working on the action dramaThe Divisionwith Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal, while Gosling is set to star opposite Marvel star Chris Evans in Netflix’sThe Gray Man, and asWolfmanfor director Leigh Whannell. This news comes to us courtesy ofDeadline.
