To celebrate the upcoming release of their new film The Nice Guys, the cast and filmmakers were in London this week to discuss the action-comedy, which stars Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) and Ryan Gosling (The Big Short) as mismatched detective duo in 1970’s Los Angeles.
In attendance for the film were stars Crowe and Matt Bomer (Magic Mike XXL), writer-director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) and producer Joel Silver, who worked with Black on Kiss Kiss and Lethal Weapon.
On how the film came about, director Black said he had always wanted to bring back the “private-eye” film: “There’s a bone-deep DNA to this ever since I raided my Dad’s bookshelf when I was a kid. And we decided that there just weren’t enough private-eye movies and not enough old-school tough guys sorts… We managed to create something that over the years failed upwards until we got the right actors and 13 years later we came together.”
Ryan Gosling was sadly absent from the press conference, but Russell Crowe spoke about the relationship the two had as the leads and said it’s all about listening: “You can’t manufacture that you either have it or you don’t and the key to it is not that complex it’s really just about listening. If you listen to each other and are tuned into each other it doesn’t matter what left step you take or whatever the other decides to do you can go with him.”
Crowe the told a story about Gosling’s ability to be funny and go off-script to try to make Crowe laugh and lose his way: “We blocked off a section of Sunset Boulevard and it was a very simple shot… But Ryan is just not on the script, he’s just jamming off some idea that’s in his head about German spank films and I’m just falling apart in the car laughing and he goes into that pseudo-German he does with such conviction… and Joel is screaming “Not tonight guys, not tonight!”
You can listen to the full audio from the press conference in the player below.
The Nice Guys is out this weekend in the US with its UK release set for June 2nd.
Originally published May 19, 2016. Updated June 30, 2023.
