Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad was long one of the year’s most anticipated films, with its all-star cast led by Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Emma Stone, and Sean Penn.
Unfortunately pushed back to the start of the New Year, following Warner Bros.’ decision to reshoot a scene in the wake of the tragic summer shooting at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises, the new campaign has been re-gearing up this week for its January release.
We caught a great new poster on Wednesday, followed by the official new trailer last night, and now five excellent character posters have made their way online.
Interestingly, they bear the original September 7th release date, so they’re not entirely new, but they do seem to be surfacing for the first time, following in the vein of the fantastic character art we saw back in July.
“Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.”
Nick Nolte, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, and Robert Patrick complete the cast nicely, with Ribisi and Mackie taking centre stage on the fifth poster.
Fleischer (Zombieland) is directing from a script by Will Beall (Castle), based on Paul Lieberman’s original seven-part article in the LA Times.
Fleischer is set to bring us a very different film to his first two comedies, and we can’t wait to see how the transition into period gangster/drama works. Beall, too, looks to be very much a rising writer at the studio, having been hired by Warner Bros. to pen their upcoming Justice League film.
Gangster Squad will be released in the UK and US on 11th January, 2013, a date which really can’t come fast enough. This should be an immense start to the box office in the New Year. And with a bit of luck, we might see the film in its original form when the DVD/Blu-ray hits. For now, here are the excellent character posters (again, bearing the old release date), which you can click to enlarge.
Source: via IMP Awards.
