Hannah Waddingham, best known for playing the badass but complicated football club owner in Ted Lasso, has joined the star cast of Ryan Gosling’s adventure film The Fall Guy.
The actress joins Emily Blunt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Stephanie Hsu and Winston Duke in the bidding for the Universal film inspired by the 1980s television series. Bullet Train director David Leitch is directing the action extravaganza, which is now being filmed in Australia.
In a departure from the original 1980s show starring Lee Majors, the story does not focus on a stuntman with a sideline as a bounty hunter. Instead, Drew Pearce’s script focuses on a troubled stuntman (Gosling) past his prime who finds himself in a movie with the star (Taylor-Johnson) he doubled for long ago and who has him has replaced. The problem, however, is that the star has disappeared.
Waddingham will play the producer of the stunt-filled film, who is now in trouble.
Duke plays the stuntman’s best friend, Hsu is the movie star’s assistant, while Blunt is cast as a prosthetic makeup artist who has a romantic past with the stuntman.
Kelly McCormick and Leitch are produced via their 87North clapboard. Gosling is producing, as is Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady.
Pearce will serve as executive producer alongside Geoff Shaevitz. Executive Vice President Production Matt Reilly and Director of Development Tony Ducret are overseeing the project on behalf of Universal.
Waddingham received two Emmy nominations as Rebecca Welton, the owner of the football club where Jason Sudeikis’ Lasso trains. The role has earned her two Critics’ Choice Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble.
The actress, who also performs in London’s West End and was on Netflix Sex Education, recently joined the all-star voice of Garfield and starred in Hocus Pocus 2, the biggest movie on Disney+.
She is represented in the UK by CAA, Atlas Artists and Creative Artists Management