(Warning: spoilers ahead for The guy who falls just in time movie.)
Yes, The guy who falls just in time is based on a television series.
If you weren’t aware of it, it’s probably because you’re part of a younger generation that wasn’t alive or old enough to remember the series, which hasn’t exactly reintegrated into the mainstream. zeitgeist in the four decades since its release. the air. (An unscientific analysis of social media shows that many people had no idea of the original IP address.) But for movie fans of a certain age, there are references to the series that inspire nostalgia.
The show, which aired from 1981 to 1986, starred Lee Majors as a stuntman who moonlighted as a bounty hunter. The film stars Ryan Gosling in the lead role, who is also a stuntman. Although the film is not an exact copy of the series, the film references and pays homage to the original in several ways. Read on to see how and how the movie differs from the series.
Characters
Both Gosling and Majors played characters named Colt Seavers, who are stuntmen. While Majors’ version of the character worked as a bounty hunter on the side, Gosling’s version finds himself drawn into a criminal investigation at the behest of a film producer he has worked with for several years. Meanwhile, Emily Blunt plays Seavers’ ex-girlfriend named Jody Moreno, who is a nod to the show’s character Jody Banks, played by Heather Thomas. However, while Blunt’s character is a camera operator turned director, Thomas’ Jody was a stuntwoman.
The truck
In the film version, Gosling drives a GMC Sierra, taken directly from the series, in which Majors’ character drives the same vehicle (although, obviously, an older model). In the film, Gosling’s character borrows the truck to the set of the film directed by Jody de Blunt.
The falls
Each episode of the series featured a multitude of stunts, as you would expect. But one stunt in particular was iconic to the series and was repeated throughout the series: Seavers’ GMC Sierra jumping over various obstacles and barriers while chasing bad guys. In the film, Gosling’s character also jumps over the truck’s barriers. Director David Leitch, himself a former stuntman, said that some of the stunts in his film paid homage to the actors in the series. “The first… truck jump in the film, it’s inspired by Scapegoat TV show,” he said. “Every episode, you saw the truck – the GMC Sierra – enter the chase behind a hedge, bushes or over a wall. And it was always kind of that classic, like, here are the bad guys, and they’re going after them. So we wanted to make the same kind of leap with the new Sierra.
The theme song
She doesn’t appear until the end of the film, but the classic theme song, called “Unknown Stuntman”, makes an appearance, albeit with a few changes. The original was sung by Majors himself (although the ending…
