It is confirmed: Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are teaming up for a mystery noir film from IRON MAN 3 director Shane Black. NICE GUYS, co-written by Black and Anthony Bagarozzi, will also be getting a prime spot in the middle of Warner Bros summer slate in 2016.
Produced by Joel Silver, there is no word on whether NICE GUYS is going to be a dark and violent film along the lines of L.A. CONFIDENTIAL or GANGSTER SQUAD, the two noir films starring Gosling and Crowe, but seeing as the movie is getting a plum mid-summer release in June, that could indicate a PG-13 friendly rating. However, the two movies being released the same weekend are Disney’s FINDING DORY and Dreamworks’ HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3, so an R-rated thriller could be good counter-programming.
NICE GUYS is set in 1970s Los Angeles and follows a private eye (Gosling) and a hired leg-breaker (Crowe) who must work together to solve the case of a missing girl and the seemingly unrelated death of a porn star.
Whatever the case, the pairing of Crowe and Gosling should be a masterclass in brooding. It also makes me wonder just when the hell Shane Black is going to find time for the PREDATOR reboot, the DOC SAVAGE movie, and the return of Remo Williams in THE DESTROYER. He is getting dangerously close to Guillermo Del Toro overload at this point.
NICE GUYS hits theaters on June 17, 2016.