Ryan Gosling To Star In Untitled Stuntman Drama Directed By 'Deadpool' Helmer And Former Stuntman David Leitch

For his next stunt, Ryan Gosling will play a stuntman. This wouldn't be the first time that the First Man actor had played a stuntman, playing characters with the dangerous job in The Place Beyond the Pines and Drive, but this is the first time he'll be playing a stuntman in a film directed by a former stuntman. Deadpool 2 director and former stuntman David Leitch will be directing the untitled Ryan Gosling stuntman movie, which has just landed at Universal after a heated bidding war.

Universal Pictures has landed the rights to an untitled stuntman drama film starring Ryan Gosling and directed by David Leitch, Deadline reports. Drew Pearce, who had teamed up with Leitch before with the Fast and Furious spin-off Hobbs & Shaw, is set to pen the script.

Universal seems pretty keen on the project, paying seven figures for the movie after a heated auction, beating out Netflix, Paramount, Universal, and MGM, according to Deadline.

And it is a promising combination: Gosling is uniquely stoic leading man who can either deliver charm in spades or subtle, stony-faced performances depending on the film. And he's played stuntmen before in two critically acclaimed films, Derek Cianfrance's The Place Beyond the Pines and Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive, though his characters' jobs were secondary to the intensely noir stories. With Leitch behind the wheel for this untitled stuntman drama, we can probably expect something a little more action-packed and in your face, considering the stuntman-turned-director's previous hits like Deadpool 2 and Atomic Blonde. Leitch isn't quite as deep in the arthouse realm as Gosling is, and could possibly bring a little mass appeal to the film. Deadline notes that the project is "extremely personal" for Leitch, as a former stuntman and stunt coordinator who transitioned into a high-profile filmmaker alongside his John Wick co-director Chad Stahelski. So perhaps this could be Leitch's bid for some prestige cred, with Gosling as his star.

There are no concrete details on what the stuntman film could be about, though The Hollywood Reporter's Borys Kit reports that the project was formerly called The Fall Guy and was set to be a "big-screen take on the Lee Majors 1980s TV series," which followed Hollywood stunt performers who moonlight as bounty hunters. It's unclear whether this will remain the case with Pearce, Leitch, and Gosling on board.

Universal reportedly plans to shoot this film quickly, as Leitch and Gosling's schedules are both pretty packed — Leitch is currently in pre-production with Bullet Train starring Brad Pitt, while Gosling is signed on to star opposite Chris Evans in a Russo brothers Netflix film The Gray Man as well as another astronaut drama from Lord and Miller.

Guymon Casady is producing through Entertainment 360, which developed the movie and got Gosling attached, along with Gosling and Leitch and his 87North partner Kelly McCormick. Entertainment 360's Geoff Shaevitz will executive produce.