With an all-star cast headed up by Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, and Josh Brolin, it’s all but guaranteed to be one of the year’s best films, not to mention the fact that Giovanni Ribisi, Nick Nolte, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, and Robert Patrick are all supporting.
Adding to the awesome first trailer, the film’s official website has put up a new batch* of images, with Penn looking terrific as the mob king, Mickey Cohen.
“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.”
Will Beall (Castle) makes his feature debut penning the script, based on Paul Lieberman’s original seven-part article in the LA Times.
Having made one of the best comedy debuts in recent years (and possibly ever) with Zombieland, and following it up with a Jesse Eisenberg reunion in 30 Minutes or Less, Fleischer is delving into very different territory with Gangster Squad, and it looks like he’s done an immense job.
Gangster Squad will be released in the US on 7th September, which could well put it in the running for the Oscars next year, followed by a UK release on 9th November. Since Warner Bros. only announced the US date last week, I’m really hoping we’ll see our own November date brought forward, because I cannot wait to see this on the big screen.
For now, the great new images for your viewing pleasure. And as usual, you can click to enlarge. (*The last two new images we’ve seen before, but now we’re getting them in bigger size, and without the EW logo in the bottom-right with the very last one.)