Ruben Fleischer’s Gangster Squad is the first film of the year that I’ve really been looking forward to. The movie features an all-star cast, led by Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, and Sean Penn, and when you have such a powerful quartet at the top, there’s every reason to expect greatness.
The film is finally hitting theatres this weekend, with its original September release date pushed back following a shooting at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises last summer, with Warner Bros. deciding to re-film a scene they felt too closely echoed reality.
We were glad to share an exclusive new clip from the film at the weekend, and now the studio have released a great new featurette, taking us behind the scenes of filming and interviewing the cast.
“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.”
Gosling, Stone, Brolin, and Penn are joined by a fantastic supporting cast, headed up by Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Michael Peña, Nick Nolte, and Robert Patrick, making one of the best ensembles in recent memory.
Fleischer (Zombieland) is making his first foray beyond comedy, following the brilliant Zombieland and 30 Minutes or Less, and is directing from a script penned by Will Beall (Castle, the upcoming Justice League movie), based on an original seven-part article by Paul Lieberman in the LA Times.
Gangster Squad will be released in the UK a day early this Thursday on 10th January, with its US release date set for 11th January, this coming Friday. I can’t wait. For now, here’s the latest featurette to set the tone. Enjoy.
[yframe url=’www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mJmF1aNK2U’]
