Gosling and Blunt on sarcasm, stunts and singing at the Oscars

When it comes to Hollywood star power, it does not get much bigger than Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

Both were nominated at The Academy Awards this year; Blunt for Oppenheimer and Gosling for Barbie and his portrayal of the ultimate himbo, Ken.

But with the Barbenheimer rivalry behind them, the pair have teamed up for a new blockbuster, The Fall Guy.

It's about a stuntman (Gosling), who's trying to track down an AWOL film star and win back his ex-girlfriend (Blunt).

WARNING: minor plot details below

The Fall Guy, which is based on the 1980s US television show of the same name, is a love letter to stunt performers.

But playing a stuntman was perhaps not the obvious choice for Gosling, who admits: "I don't love heights."

At the start of the film, he's dropped from a 12-storey building at the start of the film: "It took no skill at all on my end, I just got dropped. But that was kind of scary, it was a mental hurdle."

Blunt may not get dropped from a great height but she also gets involved in the stunts; fighting villains and an alien (well, at least an actor dressed as an alien).

"Oh my God, she can turn anything into a deadly weapon, I'm glad you've removed the props. They don't call her Stuntie Bluntie for no reason," Gosling jokes.

Blunt adds: "Stuntie Bluntie is sort of the word on the street now, especially the alien world."

The pair are split on who is the toughest: Gosling immediately says it is his co-star, joking that she was "planking" in a Pilates session the day before while everyone else was having a nap.

But Blunt says they are equally matched, telling Gosling: "I wouldn't have done that fall you did at the beginning".

It is obvious they get on well, both on screen and in person.

And it turns out that may be down to Gosling's British sense of humour.

"I find Ryan endlessly funny," Blunt says, "I probably would not find him so funny if he wasn't as into British humour. He's a huge fan of The Office (the British version), he worships at the church of (Ricky) Gervais."

Blunt and I praise his humour but Gosling suggests we're making fun of him, which we insist we're not (we're not).

"I'm kidding," he fires back. "I've got the sarcasm."

Gosling may have been joking, but the stress I felt when I thought I had upset Ken was through the roof.

Speaking of Ken, I could not resist bringing up *that* I'm Just Ken performance at the Oscars.

I tell Gosling I would find doing a song and dance routine on live television more terrifying than the stunts in the Fall Guy.

He laughs: "Especially when you're performing for Emily Blunt who's looking at you and just going 'nope, thumbs down'.

"That is all he saw when he looked out, everyone else was in raptures and I was like 'ugh'," Blunt replies, before quickly adding: "No, I thought it was absolutely phenomenal."

"It was scary," Gosling admits, "But my kids and Eva (Mendes, his partner) came to the dress rehearsal the day before, that was the real performance for me. That was the one I was most nervous about, so it was actually easy after that."

"They gave you some pointers," Blunt jokes.

Blunt has her own musical performance in The Fall Guy, singing Against All Odds by Phil Collins. It's a far cry from her numerous numbers in Mary Poppins Returns.

I ask if she fancies performing at next year's Academy Awards and she quickly replies: "Oh God, no!

"That's what I said. Don't speak too soon," Gosling warns.

Gosling says he is keen to throw the spotlight on stunt performers as the unsung heroes of the film industry in his latest film.

"They dress like us, they do the dangerous things for us. They take the hits for us, they put themselves in harm's way for us." Gosling says, "They play our characters as well, they're actors too, in the same union. But they hide their face and disappear into the shadows and everyone pretends they weren't there.

"The better they are at their job, the more they disappear in a way. It ends now. We're flipping the script."

Both stars believe the Oscars should recognise stuntmen and women. "Immediately now! Why not before?" Blunt exclaims.

She adds: "They've trained for this, they have courage beyond words and I think because there is an innate humility with stunt performers, they don't feel the need to broadcast what they do. But I think it's time that we do."

"They risk more than anyone. Their work is an art form, it's designed just as much as make-up and costumes or anything else." Gosling says.

The film is one of the big blockbusters to be released this year and has had positive reviews so far.

The Independent calls it a "Sweat-drenched spectacle that celebrates the harmonious union between heart-stopping stunt work and charismatic movie stars."

It adds that Gosling "brings a little screwball energy to the role of seasoned stuntman Colt Seavers".

"It's all a fizzy, funny, convincingly romantic delight, a tribute to the craft of making big movies with big stunts," says The Guardian.

New York Magazine says the film: "Is an act of pure movie love, mixing and matching genres".

But what do Blunt and Gosling's own children think of their films?

It turns out they are quite critical of their famous parents.

Both laugh that their own kids are "disinterested" in their work.

"They just want us to be their parents," Blunt says. "My kids have seen Mary Poppins once, they've seen Jungle Cruise once and that's a one and done thing for them."

"My kids have seen Mary Poppins many times," Gosling replies, before Blunt adds her daughters are "Ken mad".

"It's the way it should be," she laughs,."Your kids just want you in your sweat pants at home, held together with duct tape, trying to get them out of the door."

The Fall Guy is released in cinemas in the UK on 2 May.