Shane Black Talks About His New Noir THE NICE GUYS, See First Image
Shane Black is one of my favorite filmmakers. He's only directed two theatrical features thus far, but both are fantastic — Iron Man 3, and the exceptional neo-noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. If that was all he'd done, that would probably be enough to justify my appreciation of him, but he's also the guy who wrote The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and almost singlehandedly created the buddy cop genre with Lethal Weapon. He's co-writing a new Predator movie, and right now he's working on his next directorial film, The Nice Guys, a 1970s-set Los Angeles noir starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe.
People Magazine has the first image from the movie (above), which Black describes as a "half whimsical private-eye movie" that's a "spiritual sequel" to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. That's one of my favorite movies of the past decade, so I'm thrilled to hear this new film is in the same vein.
The plot follows a private eye (Gosling) and an enforcer (Crowe) thrust into the same case of a missing girl. The death of a porn star complicates matters, as does the conspiracy they unravel that will have a big impact on some powerful people in high places. Matt Bomer, Kim Basinger, and The Leftovers' Margaret Qualley also star.
Black had more to say about the film:
"I think we've really lucked out. Whether this thing is a comedy with action or a thriller with jokes, one thing that's very clear is these two are extremely funny. People will enjoy seeing the two of them [Gosling and Crowe]."
"It is an R-rated film and it's a caper," says Black. "It's a little fast, a little funny and a little rough in places, kind of coarse. These guys are working-class dudes, they're not really sophisticated private detectives, so it's a chance to do the kind of thriller I don't see too much of anymore."
"[The movie] retains the harshness of the world and gives a nod that we're very much in noir territory," Black says. "It's a little bit pushed – the premise, the time period, everything is a little crazy."
Sounds great to me. This can't get here quickly enough. The Nice Guys hits theaters on May 20th, 2016.