Because it’s been far too long since we wrote something about Warner Bros’ Gangster Squad – a couple of weeks, at least! – director Ruben Fleischer has decided to feed our obsession by hiring Nick Nolte to join the casteven as he begins final preparations to start shooting.
Nolte is one of the few big puzzle pieces left to slot in, signing on play Bill Parker, the new Chief Of Police for Los Angeles, who arrives driven by the idea that the 1950’s cop shop needs some honest officers. Specifically, a crack team dedicated to stemming the tide of organized crime represented by the likes of mobster and inveterate gambler Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). So Parker, a World War Two veteran, sets about working with Josh Brolin’s John O’Mara to make it happen.
As you may already know, Ryan Gosling will be one of the other prime components, with Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick and Holt McCallany also on the team. Mireille Enos has been cast as Brolin’s wife and Emma Stone will be a young woman who catches the eye of both Penn and Gosling.
For his part, Nolte is enjoying something of a mini resurgence right now, with roles in Warrior and Parker already done and dusted and preparation underway to work with Robert Redford in The Company You Keep. And that’s without mentioning David Milch and Michael Mann’s HBO horse racing drama Luck…