Surviving a 150-Foot Plunge: The Incredible Story of Stuntman Troy Lindsay Brown from 'The Fall Guy' | Vanity Fair

Article by Anthony Breznican

Troy Lindsay Brown and his stuntman father give new meaning to the parental warning, “If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?” For them, this was not caution but inspiration.

Through a lifelong career of performing jumps from mind-boggling heights, they both participated in an awe-inspiring stunt for Ryan Gosling in the new action-comedy The Fall Guy. Directed by former stuntman David Leitch (known for Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train), the hair-raising plunge of 150 feet was executed by Brown, delivering one of the film's iconic moments, accentuated due to the terrifying realism of an actual person plummeting to the earth.

The movie, premiering on Friday, is a spinoff of the 1981–86 TV series about a bounty-hunting stunt actor. The film stars Gosling as a rebel who investigates the mystery surrounding the missing top-notch actor whom he doubles for, alongside Emily Blunt in the shoes of a newcomer director of a hefty budget studio sci-fi flick who is attempting to keep her film intact. Troy was one of the major stunt doubles for Gosling, with his father serving as his personal coordinator.

Think about Troy, now aged 25, suspended in mid-air, devoid of a parachute or bungee rope, with half a football field yet to descend, contemplating his situation. Let's trace his journey back...

In Motion: Troy Lindsay Brown, dressed as Ryan Gosling's Colt Seavers during his free-fall stunt performance.

Troy’s father, Bob Brown, had a stellar career as a Hollywood stunt performer in the 1980s and ’90s, doubling for Jim Carrey in The Mask, The Cable Guy, and for Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Last Action Hero, to mention a few. Currently, Bob has moved towards more of a stunt supervisor role. In 2002, when Troy was only 3 and Bob was 43 years old, Bob set a record for the highest fall by plummeting 20 stories for the World Stunt Awards ceremony live on ABC.

“I just grew up with it,” Troy shared. “It was just like, this is what my dad does. He performs stunts in movies. It was awe-inspiring to me. I would invite my dad to my school for show-and-tell, and he would talk about high falls.”

A few years later, Bob, who was coordinating stunts in the 2005 Vin Diesel comedy The Pacifier, inquired if his son was interested in a job. “He asked, ‘You want to jump out of a helicopter into the ocean?’ and I was excited,” reminisces Troy. “So, they signed me on a contract as a stunt performer, and that was my first job. This is how I earned my Screen Actors Guild card.”

Though Troy's fall wasn't a steep one, it delivered an exhilarating experience. “In the movie, the characters probably dropped from 60 or 80 feet. I only jumped from 20 to 25 feet,” Troy says. “It wasn't scary.”

Troy spent his childhood around his father and his fellow stunt performers rehearsing at their home-based obstacle course. Occasionally, they'd allow him to join and guide him. “Every Saturday, my dad had stunt practice at our house,” Troy recounts. “They practiced with me. That’s how I started getting experience in doing high falls. I practiced every day.”

Troy’s father stressed safety. “My dad was very particular about everything,” Troy says. “He advised, 'Don't be reckless. You can seriously injure yourself doing this, so be sensible.’”

Troy occasionally tells tales about his harsh learning experiences. He recalls certain instances when he was having fun on a trampoline and would attempt a skill that he didn't know how to execute, often landing awkwardly. He did this without any supervision or assistance, often leading to injuries and distress. This would lead to his father reprimanding him for not having someone on standby to help him, Troy recalls.

Troy took up sporadic part-time work throughout his childhood whenever Brand X required a child for a film stunt. His work included elf stunts in "The Santa Clause 3" (2006) and stunts in "Alice in Wonderland" (2010). He also bounced around an inflatable castle in the 2010 film "Little Fockers". Amidst all this, Troy gained valuable experience that no educational institution could offer. He values the learning experience he received, stating that being an apprentice in this line of work is a worthy endeavor.

Troy admired his father's fellow stunt performers. Some of them became his friends. Though he pursued college education in computer programming, he eventually remarked, one time during a 3 a.m. coding session, that he despised it. He resolved to settle for a career path akin to his father's and his father's friends.

Troy chose to forge a living by performing death-defying stunts in films and TV - much like they do in The Fall Guy tv show.

"The Fall Guy" is of particular importance to Hollywood stunt performers. It features a theme song that sings the praises of an unnamed stuntman whose unrecognized courage makes stars seem fearless. This TV show brought this occupation into prominence, making it all the more exciting and dignified, akin to Burt Reynolds' 1978 film "Hooper".

A cinema remake of "The Fall Guy" had been in the works for several years until Leitch completed it. Leitch's version gave premier stunt performers a platform to demonstrate their prowess. Leitch spoke highly of Troy's participation in the movie in a behind-the-scenes documentary series "Action".

Troy and his father, Bob, found themselves in the middle of shooting "The Fall Guy" in Sydney, Australia. They were about to execute a segment that was not only life-changing but also held the potential of being life-threatening.

Troy was called upon to perform a 120-foot-high fall. This was an uncommonly high free fall, so he decided to push the limits and proposed a 150-foot fall. He prepared for this and practiced up to a 130-foot fall, saving the 150-foot stunt for the final take.

Equally important was the airbag employed for the stunt. It was made of a fabric known as ripstop, which is highly resistant to tearing, often used for boat sails. It was an airbag once owned by his father. Troy's father last made a high fall into this airbag during a shoot for "Flight of the Phoenix" in 2004. The airbag was then passed on to the production company and ended up becoming a legendary stunt artifact.

Bob Brown retired from executing major falls and hence, such airbags were not in frequent use. Troy recollects the astonishment when they discovered the airbag that his father had last used more than a decade ago.

Troy Lindsay Brown, a stuntman in the movie, had created an exciting scene that would require him to fall from a spiraling helicopter as the character of Gosling, Colt Seavers. All while Blunt, playing the role of a director, chased after the erratic aircraft in her truck dragging a massive inflatable pad. In reality, however, the huge cushion was stationary and the helicopter's body was attached to a towering crane on the day of the shoot. Nevertheless, the fall was recreated as observed in the film.

The entire purpose of using a living person for this stunt, rather than a dummy, was due to the impact the silhouette's movement has on the audience. Indeed, the human psyche can detect the potential danger faced by a falling figure in an empty vacuum. Though a stiff tumble might ensure safety, it does not deliver a powerful performance. Part of Troy's preparation included perfecting his “trick”, turns, and gestures he would showcase while quickly descending. He recalls, "I performed a back flip with a half twist, and then a front flip with another half twist. It was essentially a full-twisting double back flip."

The day of shooting started with rehearsals for the camera crew just like any other film scene. "I did the warm-ups from a height of 110 feet to help the cameras track me properly during the fall," Troy recalls. "People started congratulating me after the warm-up, but I laughed and said I was going to dread another fall from 40 feet higher."

Main actors often don't attend the filming of the stunt sequences, but in this case, Gosling was at the location for moral support. Troy believes that a stronger bond between the stunt performer and actor can make a movie much more engrossing. “Ryan’s keen interest in stunts made it far cooler having him there, as he genuinely cared about the work,” notes Troy.

Gosling spent only a few minutes with him before the stunt, giving him a morale boost and asking what music he was listening to and if he had called his mom. “I was listening to a band named Polyphia who only use guitar and no lyrics. My call to my mother had to wait till after the fall to assure her I was fine," says Troy.

Taking a drop like that, according to Troy, is like entering a flow or hyper-focused state. "I avoided talking to many people and just visualized everything in my head repeatedly while listening to music," he explains. "I was certain that I could do it and having my dad along with the team, made the setting perfect."

Being positioned at a height of 150 feet above the ground in a helicopter, he stood near the door, grabbed the sides, and waited for the wind to calm down. "The ability to remain calm was crucial for me," he remarks. Unlike the typical haste associated with sets, he wanted to do it at his comfortable pace.

Troy explains that director David Leitch didn't even yell “Action!” the moment he fell, as they communicated through the radio and told him that he was perfectly aligned to land on the bag. He waited for a moment of calm before making the plunge.

simulating twists and flips in mid-air felt extended, more like the way it was portrayed in the film, even though it was over in the blink of an eye. "I felt like I was in a slow-motion sequence, just like I had always imagined," says Troy. The sensation of landing on the airbag triggered waves of adrenaline and he looked back up at the helicopter thinking, 'This is awesome.'

Jubilation exploded throughout the set. Bob handed his son his cellphone, with the young man’s mother on the other end of the line. “It sounded like she was doing dishes or something,” he says. “I was like, ‘Hey mom, I just did the fall. I’m all good and everything.’ And she was just like, ‘I knew it.’”

After the crew deflated the airbag, they rolled it over so he could sign it near the same spot as his father’s autograph from two decades before. The bag, unlike the performer, did not survive the stunt. “I was comfortable with it. But after that one, I would say it’s time to retire it,” Troy says.

After he crawled out of the pillowing fabric, Troy was bear-hugged by the director, then by Gosling. Emotions were high all around, and unlike Troy, they remained aloft. Wiping at his eyes, Gosling declared: “I’m crying like he’s my own kid.”