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Everything to Know About The Fall Guy's Movie Within a Movie, Metalstorm
Is The Fall Guy's fake movie based on a real film?
David Leitch's The Fall Guy is a love letter to stunt men and the entire stunt performance craft, and as a result it packs in copious movie stunts both within its story and within the fictional movie being made in the background. But is the fake movie inside The Fall Guy actually based on a real film?
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Titled Metalstorm, the movie being made by director Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and of course, stunt man Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) plays out in the background of The Fall Guy as a sci-fi epic full of garish costumes and big setpieces, perfect for explosions, wire stunts, and car flips. It's got all the hallmarks of a big Hollywood movie with lots of stunt performers, but as cult movie fans will know, it also borrows at least a little bit from an actual piece of cinema history.
What Is Metalstorm, the Movie Within The Fall Guy?
As Jody describes the film, her feature directorial debut, Metalstorm is an epic sci-fi saga with a love story at its center, following a lone warrior named Space Cowboy who heads to a desert plans, befriends the locals, falls in love with an alien, and eventually puts himself at the center of a fight for freedom from a tyrannical ruler. We don't get too much in the way of plot, but it feels a bit like Dune meets Star Wars with a dash of Mad Max thrown in for good measure.
In the world of The Fall Guy, Metalstorm is set up as a big bet, a massive production with loads of money being spent, loads of personnel working behind the scenes, and big expectations. Jody's entire filmmaking future is riding on the film's success, which helps explain why Colt is willing to go such great lengths to help her get the movie made. Beyond that, we don't know much, but it's clearly set up as a big production with high stakes.
Is Metalstorm Based on a Real Movie?
Look closely in the annals of cinema history, and you'll find that yes, there is a real movie called Metalstorm. Bearing the hefty full title of Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn, the film was released in 1983 and was directed by cult movie legend Charles Band. The real film is the story of Dogen, a "space ranger" played by Jeffrey Bryon who helps a group of desert nomads on a planet known for its mining to defeat a tyrannical opponent from another planet. Yes, there's a lot of Dune influence there.
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Released in 1983, one of many sci-fi epics to follow in the wake of Star Wars, Metalstorm didn't make much of a dent with audiences or critics, but over time, like many of Band's films, it's gained a cult following. As for The Fall Guy, the film likely borrowed the title in part because Metalstorm was distributed by Universal Pictures, and beyond a few glancing similarities and sharing a genre, the two movies seem to go in somewhat different directions. They do share the same tagline, though: "It's High Noon at the End of the Universe."
Of course, now that you know the real history, you might be clamoring for a remake of Metalstorm starring Jason Momoa in the leading role. Stranger things have happened.
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