Were you disappointed that ever-in-demand actor Bryan Cranston has had to drop out of Warner Bros.’ crime drama The Gangster Squad? We have some news that might just soothe your troubled brow: Robert Patrick is in final negotiations to take over the role that would have been Cranston's.
That part is laid back LAPD officer Max Kennard, a Texan whose easy attitude to life disguises his tenacious work on the job.
Patrick is just the latest piece of casting on the film, which already boasts the likes of Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena, Giovanni Ribisi and Michael Pena. Plus Emma Stone, assuming she locks in a deal.
Based on a series of LA Times articles written by Paul Lieberman, Gangster Squad will follow the local police department’s battle with crime and corruption and the formation of a dedicated team designed to keep East Coast mobsters (such as Penn’s Mickey Cohen) out of the city during the 1940s.
Zombieland’s Ruben Fleischer is calling the shots from a script adapted by former copper Will Beall. The cameras start cranking in September.