If you thought that Warner Bros.' already talent-heavy period cop drama **The ****Gangster Squad **had completely filled its ranks, we’ve got news for you – director Ruben Fleischer and his producers aren’t finished, and have just recruited Avatar’s Giovanni Ribisi to play one of the coppers.
You’ll likely know by now that Squad has been adapted by former police officer Will Beal from a series of LA Times articles chronicling the work of a 1940s LAPD team dedicated to rooting out corruption and clamping down on East Coast mobsters despoiling the City of Angels.
Ryan Gosling, Anthony Mackie, Josh Brolin and Michael Pena are all signed on to play the honest coppers who are changed with the mission of taking down newly arrived mobster/gambler Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).
Deadline reports that Ribisi is down to play Conway Keeler, a tech expert who can help the team with surveillance on their chosen targets. Think The Wire but with slightly less modern gadgets.
Ribisi is busy shooting a role in Seth McFarlane’s comedy Ted and also has The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp ready and waiting for release.
As for** Gangster Squad**, there’s no start date set yet, but Fleischer is now in pre-production. It’ll likely need to wait for him to finish promoting **30 Minutes or Less **and gather a few more actors.