Focussing on a veteran stunt double, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt's new film features some truly spectacular action sequences – and makes an important case for the people who perform such feats to be finally recognised as true artists.

When it comes to the unsung heroes of movie-making, no one can lay claim to the title quite as much as stunt people – they are the film professionals who literally take the hits so that actors don't have to, even as their faces are unseen and their names unrecognised by all but a tiny few. They've been performing incredible feats on film since the early 1900s. Edwin S Porter's 1903 silent film The Great Train Robbery saw Frank Hanaway hired as a bandit to fall off a horse in a chase scene, one of the first appearances of a stuntman. Now, more than a century later, where there is an over-reliance on CGI and VFX to create spectacular scenes in the action genre, films like The Fall Guy – that showcase more practical stunt solutions – feel like exciting outliers.

A loose adaptation of the 1980s TV series of the same name, the action-comedy centres on Ryan Gosling's Colt Seavers, a veteran stunt double who after experiencing a traumatic workplace mishap, decides to leave the industry – only to be persuaded to get back into business, 18 months on, when he is hired to work on a new sci-fi blockbuster. Making things more complicated, it happens to be directed by Emily Blunt's Jody – the ex he loves but whom he ghosted when he quit. With a mystery thriller plot involving the disappearance of the film's leading man thrown in, it's a charming and funny film that showcases the thrilling power of well-executed stunt sequences and just what it takes to achieve them.

"This is a love letter to the stunt community," stunt driver Logan Holladay tells the BBC. Stunt double Ben Jenkin adds: "We wanted to incorporate every aspect of stunts in this movie, whether that be rolling a car, doing a high fall, fights, fire burns, massive winch moves, rigging, all of this stuff." It's certainly a film close to the hearts of many people working on it, in particular stuntman-turned-director David Leitch, who doubled for Brad Pitt on several films, and has since helmed the acclaimed, action-packed features John Wick (2014), Atomic Blonde (2017) and Deadpool 2 (2018). "It was fun to direct a movie with direct experience of the subject matter," Leitch tells the BBC. "Directing John Wick, for example, I've never been a ruthless assassin, but a stunt performer, I have [been]. Living on sets for my entire adult life, I know what that's like, so getting into the world of behind-the-scenes movie-making was fun."

Gosling, who has played stunt drivers in Drive (2011) and The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), believes stunts are "a huge part of why we love film in general", and he relished the opportunity to go deeper into how a stuntman ticks. "[With those other films] I never felt like I got to scratch the surface of what the real life of a stunt performer is, so to do this film with David, who understands this more deeply than anyone, was so exciting," he tells the BBC. Shooting the film, Gosling had four stunt doubles, including Holladay and Jenkin, who each contributed a specific skill set to make Gosling’s character, Colt, a stunt performer of remarkable versatility.

"It's strange when you get to set, and they put themselves in harm's way for you. They're also playing your character, are also actors and members of SAG [Screen Actors Guild], yet in their case they disappear into the shadows," Gosling adds. "The thing that this movie does well, which feels fresh, is not just acknowledging the physical hits that some performers take, but the emotional ones too. What's that like when your job is to take all the risks but you hide your face and get none of the credit?"

So what makes a good stunt? Screenwriter Drew Pearce – whose action credits include Iron Man 3 (2013), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs........

© BBC