You are viewing the archive: “Gangster Squad”

TOLDJA! ‘Gangster Squad’ Casting Up With Sean Penn And Ryan Gosling, And Now Josh Brolin

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Thursday April 21, 2011 @ 11:31am PDTTags: Dan Lin, Gangster Squad, Josh Brolin, Kevin McCormick, Mickey Cohen, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has begun negotiating with Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Josh Brolin to star in Gangster Squad, the Will Beall-scripted crime drama that will be directed by Zombieland helmer Ruben Fleischer. Production will begin in the fall. Deadline told you last month that the studio had offered two of the main roles to Penn and Gosling. The linchpin of the film is Los Angeles mobster Mickey Cohen, which is the role that Penn is in talks to play. Gosling and Brolin are in talks to play two cops assigned to bring him down when the gangster’s penchant for violence leaves the blood of innocents on the street. Dan Lin and Kevin McCormick are producing.

Penn had become shaky on the role for a bit — he’s also in talks to star with Christian Bale in the Kurt Johnstad-scripted drama The Last Photograph, which will be directed by The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo helmer Niels Arden Oplev for Dark Castle, but that pic doesn’t start production till next spring — but things have worked out after all. For Penn, this could well be as memorable a gangster turn as when Robert De Niro played Al Capone in The Untouchables. Cohen, a former boxer who became an associate of Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, was a charismatic figure who caroused around town with a gorgeous girl on his arm, and often with his attractive etiquette coach at his side. He once even took part in a Life Magazine profile. But he was also considered a sociopath whose vices included sex and extortion, and whose mood could darken on a dime. When innocent people got hurt, law enforcement hardened to the fact he had to be stopped.

The drama, based on a series of articles by Paul Lieberman, is the fact-based tale of the crime fighting exploits of a squad of elite Los Angeles officers in the 1940s charged with stopping him and other mobsters. Screenwriter Beall is a former South Central Los Angeles cop who wrote the novel L.A. Rex.

Comments (12)

In Warner Bros Crime Spree, Studio Eyes Sean Penn For Mickey Cohen, David Yates For Capone Tale

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday March 30, 2011 @ 11:46am PDTTags: Al Capone, David Yates, Gangster Squad, Mickey Cohen, Ruben Fleischer, Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn
Mike Fleming

Warner Bros is going to the mattresses on mobster movies. The studio has given the green light to Gangster Squad, the Will Beall-scripted crime drama that will be directed … Read More »

Comments 20

Warner Bros Wants Ruben Fleischer To Lead ‘Gangster Squad’

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Wednesday December 1, 2010 @ 1:31pm PSTTags: Ben Affleck, Darren Aronofsky, Gangster Squad, Movie Deals, Movies, Ruben Fleischer, Warner Bros, Will Beall
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros has begun negotiations with Zombieland‘s Ruben Fleischer to direct Gangster Squad, the 40s crime drama that is regarded as one of the hotter scripts in the studio’s arsenal. The film is set in the 40s and  50s … Read More »

Comments (8)

No ‘Gangster Squad’ For Darren Aronofsky As He Nears Deal On ‘Wolverine 2′

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday October 12, 2010 @ 12:05pm PDTTags: Christopher McQuarrie, Darren Aronofsky, Darren Aronofsky X-Men Origins Deal, Gangster Squad, Hugh Jackman, Movie Deals, Movies, X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2
Mike Fleming

Scratch the Warner Bros period crime drama Gangster Squad from Darren Aronofsky’s Things To Do List. That Will Beall-scripted picture momentarily seemed to be the only thing in the way of the Black Swan helmer reuniting with his Fountain star … Read More »

Comments 27
« Previous Deadline | Hollywood