After the massive success of Iron Man, Shane Black is plotting his next movie, a crime noir called The Nice Guys. Now TheWrap reports he’s eying his cast, with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling circling.
Neither actor is signed on yet as there are issues that would need to be sorted first. With Crowe, for example, there may be scheduling conflicts due to his need to promote his directorial debut, The Water Diviner.
The film is about muscle-for-hire Jackson Healy, a recovering alcoholic, and private detective Holland March, a current alcoholic, who are brought together by the apparent suicide of a porn star. However the dead woman’s aunt claims that she saw her niece alive and well after she was supposed to have killed herself. March takes on the case hoping to make some easy money, but soon both men are dragged into a far-reaching conspiracy that is rooted in smog and the car industry.
Black, who also wrote the script for The Nice Guys alongside Anthony Bagarozzi, has been trying to get the film off the ground for several years, but it’s only recently he’s had the clout to make it happen.