The Fall Guy's Aaron Taylor Johnson Is Finally A Movie Star – By Playing A Jerk Movie Star
Warning: This article discusses spoilers for "The Fall Guy."
It may seem like the next "Deadpool" movie already has the market cornered on breaking the fourth wall and making meta jokes about its own existence, but Universal's "The Fall Guy" just might have it beat. The David Leitch action movie/romantic comedy has all the makings of being the exact kind of blockbuster audiences need these days (just read /Film's review by Jacob Hall for more), but despite its old-school movie star charm and "Romancing The Stone" vibes, writer Drew Pearce loaded the script with some of the wittiest and most self-reflexive observations about our current state of the industry. The idea of giving some love back to the hardworking yet underappreciated community of stunt people takes top priority throughout the (mis)adventures of Ryan Gosling's stuntman Colt Seavers, of course, but the main villain of the story comes loaded with all sorts of juicy subtext for those who've been paying attention to the last decade-plus of studio filmmaking trends.
As much as the movie's big last-minute cameo puts an appropriately larger-than-life button on the final moments of "The Fall Guy," in which one of our biggest actors around lends his franchise leading man appeal to the movie-within-the-movie "Metalstorm" that's directed by first-time filmmaker Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), it's actually the shrewd and incredibly inspired casting of Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the story's big, unlikable oaf — who just so happens to the biggest movie star around — that puts "The Fall Guy" on another level entirely.
Let's just say it's not a coincidence that Leitch and his creative team chose someone who attempted to become the next big leading man throughout the 2010s and finally let him fulfill those career ambitions ... but, ironically, only by playing a villainous, movie-star jerk.
The Fall Guy knows what movie stars should NOT be
Nobody can say that Aaron Taylor-Johnson and his agents didn't give their best shot in bringing the actor to Hollywood superstardom. In 2014, after having fully established himself in both "Kick-Ass" movies, the actor found himself playing the main protagonist in Gareth Edwards' "Godzilla" — which ended up somewhat backfiring when audiences were turned off by the idea of following his relatively bland soldier for much of the film, as opposed to his conspiracy theorist father (portrayed by Bryan Cranston), who was abruptly killed off. A year later, Taylor-Johnson rebounded with his biggest role yet as the speedster Pietro Maximoff in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ... only to be killed off himself without leaving much impact on the series. In the years since he's positioned himself as the lead of Sony's antihero film "Kraven" and even become the target of recent James Bond rumors, too ... but he hasn't quite broken through just yet.
None of these various projects, however, measure up to how "The Fall Guy" lampoons the industry's attempts to make Taylor-Johnson into our Next Big Movie Star. In the film, his A-lister status is treated as a given. Colt Seavers is forever stuck in his shadow while tireless producer Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) remains at his beck and call, ultimately going so far as to cover up potential homicide in order to keep her big talent out of trouble. In fact, his disappearing act on the set of "Metalstorm," which causes Colt to be recruited in the first place and exposed to the seedy underbelly of stardom, feels eerily reminiscent of some notable real-world allegations in recent memory. All in all, Tom Ryder is a shining example of what movie stars shouldn't be.
And that's what makes it even funnier.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is in on the joke
Nobody agrees to a major role in a movie like "The Fall Guy" without knowing what they're getting themselves into. Ryan Gosling, for instance, simply had to be aware of the irony positively dripping off his roles in both "Barbie" and "The Fall Guy." Blessed with leading man looks, each movie finds the humor in undercutting those expectations and relegating him to the sidelines as much as possible. Aaron Taylor-Johnson's casting as Tom Ryder accomplishes the complete opposite, hilariously enough: By making the world revolve around his loathsome character, "The Fall Guy" can't help but feel like Ryder is almost the Reverse-Flash version of Taylor-Johnson himself. In essence, he's channeling the exact energy of someone who took all those, "Ugh, why do we have to watch this guy instead of Bryan Cranston???" criticisms from "Godzilla" a little too personally.
Most impressively of all, the actor seems to fully understand — and even embrace — that reality.
What makes this more than just some mean-spirited instance of punching down (if that's even possible when it comes to handsome, successful, white actors) is the fact that Taylor-Johnson remains entirely in on the joke. In case any online stans were getting ready to chuck rotten vegetables in my general direction, this is precisely why the actor is one of the standout highlights of the movie. His outlandish performance is pitched at just the right tone, oftentimes affecting a Matthew McConaughey-like drawl while shooting scenes as the space cowboy in "Metalstorm" or seemingly taking a page out of The Rock's "No-Lose clause" playbook while choreographing his own fight moves.
It's ridiculous, over the top, and always entertaining — even more so thanks to Taylor-Johnson's unique career path.
"The Fall Guy" is now playing in theaters.