Blue Mountains actress Beth Champion can now say something most film fans could only dream of - she has improvised a movie scene with Ryan Gosling.
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Securing a role in the new action-comedy film The Fall Guy, released April 24, Ms Champion riffed with the Barbie megastar in the movie's opening scene.
After seeing herself in the final product on the big screen, the Wentworth Falls resident said her first thought was: "I'm quite small compared to Ryan Gosling".
"When I was there [acting] on the day with him... I was literally thinking 'I look like a Womble'," she said with a laugh.
Shot partly in Sydney, The Fall Guy follows a stuntman who falls head-first into a missing person mystery after the star of a big studio movie suddenly disappears.
This movie-within-a-movie plot explains Ms Champion's role as "First Assistant Director" in the fictional film being produced in the story.
She told the Gazette it's as confusing as it sounds.
"When I first arrived, because I looked exactly like a First Assistant Director - I had a headset on, I had my pack, I had a cap, I had a clipboard - people didn't think I was an actor. They thought I was crew," Ms Champion said.
She then had to explain this when introducing herself to the star-studded cast, which includes Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.
In the opening scene of The Fall Guy, Ms Champion's character gives directions and reassurance to stuntman Colt Seavers (Gosling) after a death-defying stunt needs to be run again.
With the scene needing around 20 takes over three hours, Ms Champion had plenty of time to chill and workshop lines with Gosling between takes.
"When I turned up I was told 'we're not using that script... you and Ryan will be improvising'," she said.
"So I got to say [to Gosling] 'hey, what should we do?' We were able to just play like actors and just riff off each other. And that was thrilling.
"Funny things just come out of his body. He's a funny, physical comic, very dry. The way he sits back on his comedy, he takes a moment... he's not rushing for a gag, it just comes."
Beyond her work with other actors, Ms Champion said she was just excited to work on a Hollywood studio picture, especially one shot in Sydney.
"I've never worked on a film of that scale. It was thrilling to see how many professionals were hired; the number of people that were specialists in their field that were on that set was mind-blowing," she said.
"The Australian Government invested in this film; invest in more. What a winning ticket. If [they are] investing in this film, they are betting on the right horse."
The Fall Guy is in cinemas now, with screenings at Glenbrook Cinema, Mount Vic Flicks, and The Edge United Cinemas.
