Thanks to the success of Iron Man 3, Shane Black’s services as writer and director are in high demand and it appears that he’s angling to get an old script back on its feet. He’s putting together noir pic The Nice Guys and is after the likes of Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling to star in it.
The Nice Guys takes place in smoggy, dingy 1970s Los Angeles, where tough nut Jackson Healey and private eye Holland March combine forces to investigate the strange case of a fading porn star’s suicide. When they’re contacted by the girl’s aunt, who is convinced she saw her alive after the supposed death, the case is on, one tied to the US car industry that quickly grows more complicated than either man expects.
Black originally co-wrote the script a few years ago with Anthony Bagarozzi, but it has lingered in development limbo ever since. Nothing had seemed to generate much interest, even a staged public reading of the screenplay at the Austin Film Festival in 2011. Now, however, Joel Silver is helping to get the thing made and overtures are being made to the actors, though talks are yet to formally start and both might be too busy to take the roles. Still, it’s just nice to see Black back with a little mojo.