"The Gangster Squad" (2013)

by **Adriana** on Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:42 am

Robert Patrick has signed on to Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer’s period cop drama Gangster Squad. Showblitz reports that Patrick will take on the role that Bryan Cranston was originally in talks for: an LAPD officer from Texas. The plot revolves around the elite squad of cops who hunted down gangster Mickey Cohen in 1940s Los Angeles. The stellar cast includes Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi and Holt McCallany. Emma Stone recently entered negotiations to sign on as well.

by **Adriana** on Fri Jul 29, 2011 10:44 am

Source: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Robert Patrick is the latest actor to join the cast of Ruben Fleischer's new film Gangster Squad. He will be taking on the role of Officer Max Kennard, which is the part Bryan Cranston was previously attached to play. The character is described as "a laconic LAPD officer from Texas who enforces the law ambitiously." Patrick is an awesome actor that doesn't get enough good acting gigs, so I'm happy to see that he's joining this awesome sounding gangster drama. He will be joining Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Anthony Mackie, Giovanni Ribisi, Holt McCallany and Emma Stone, who is still in negotiations.

As we previously reported, the movie will be based on a series of articles in The Los Angeles Times written by Paul Lieberman back in 2008. The articles examine an LAPD unit that's set up in the 1940s to fend off the growing influence of the East Coast Mafia in the city. The police group ended up becoming very powerful, and the battles with the Mafia escalated, leading to mayhem and betrayals. The LAPD unit was a secret "off the record" police task force who went after Meyer Harris "Mickey" Cohen, a high-profile gangster who was a member of the "Jewish Mafia".

Cohen started out as hired muscle for Al Capone in Chicago, but blossomed as a mogul after being sent to Los Angeles by Murder, Inc. kingpin Meyer Lansky to surveille Bugsy Siegel, who Cohen helped set up the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and ran it's sports betting operation. He also ran a panoply of L.A. businesses, presumably as fronts to launder money — including floral shops, paint stores, nightclubs, casinos, gas stations, a haberdashery, and an ice cream parlor — before getting busted for tax evasion in 1950 and serving four years in federal prison.

by **Dana Doggett** on Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:35 pm

Thanks for the info! Awesome that Cranston was up for this role too - I think he and RP have similar acting talent - brilliant.

by **Adriana** on Mon Aug 01, 2011 9:39 am

YES-YES! OSCAR, PLEASE! woohoo

by **Dana Doggett** on Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:33 am

Oh I hope Robert gets acknowledged for his talent with an Oscar award. Such a high-end, prestigious award is way over-due for him.

by **ZoeG** on Wed Aug 03, 2011 10:47 pm

Yay! I'm thrilled he's being matched with a movie and cast worthy of his talents. Oh? And a 1940s period crime drama? I am so there.

by **Dana Doggett** on Thu Aug 04, 2011 9:22 am

ZoeG wrote:Yay! I'm thrilled he's being matched with a movie and cast worthy of his talents. Oh? And a 1940s period crime drama? I am so there.

ITA! 1940s crime sounds so appealing to me. I think Robert will look awesome in this era.

by **ZoeG** on Fri Aug 05, 2011 4:02 pm

I thought this movie sounded kinda familiar; I worked for a production company a few years ago and I'm pretty sure this came through our doors at one point. Here's some info from a Nov 2008 Variety....(might be spoilerish)

------ might be spoilerish | you've been warned --------

WB cops 'Gangster Squad' Lin to produce film based on L.A. Times series
By TATIANA SIEGEL
Warner Bros. has acquired rights to the L.A. Times' recent seven-part series "Tales From the Gangster Squad," with Dan Lin to produce the feature adaptation.

In 1946, in a chaotic and corrupt Los Angeles, gangsters brazenly engaged in shootouts and drive-by shootings. At the time, the LAPD formed what was dubbed the Gangster Squad to keep East Coast Mafia out of the city. The squad's anything goes approach lasted through the 1950s.

Paul Lieberman penned the series of articles that concluded in Saturday's paper.

Lieberman began working on the series back in 1992, when he received a call from a reader who said a piece about the LAPD's Organized Crime Intelligence Division had failed to mention its roots in a unit formed after WWII, the Gangster Squad. When asked by Lieberman how he knew, the man said, "Well, I was on it."

Within days, Lieberman was in the San Gabriel Valley living room of long-retired Sgt. Jack O'Mara. Over time, he tracked down nine other squad members. One, the unit's first bug man, shared what he knew only after a decade of Lieberman's persistent querying.

More than 100 people involved with the squad were interviewed for the series, including attorneys for L.A. mobsters Bugsy Siegel and Mickey Cohen and two former members of Cohen's entourage, one of whom was present on the night Jack "the Enforcer" Whalen was shot. In addition, Whalen's surviving relatives, including his 91-year-old sister, agreed to be interviewed for the series.
The articles focus on two cops -- one a member of the Gangster Squad and one forced out against his will -- who were both obsessed with taking down Cohen.

Warners and Lin are out to screenwriters to adapt the material. Lin Pictures' Jon Silk will serve as co-producer.

Lin, a former Warners exec who oversaw the development and production of "The Departed," is in production on the Robert Downey Jr. starrer "Sherlock Holmes." He is in post-production on "Terminator Salvation," Robert Rodriguez's "Shorts," Ricky Gervais and Matt Robinson's "This Side of the Truth" and Richard Kelly's "The Box." Lin Pictures also has "Justice League" and "The Karma Coalition" at the studio.

Linky links to the LA Times series mentioned above. Interesting read for all you crime noir fans.

Part 1: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Pt 2: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Pt 3: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Pt 4: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Pt 5: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Pt 6: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
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by **gorgclaud** on Fri Aug 05, 2011 7:12 pm

This sounds so brilliant! I seriously cannot wait! Thanks for all the info.

by **Tarathemis** on Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:34 pm

I am really looking forward to this. What a cast..... especially RP, of course. thumbsup

by **Tarathemis** on Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:18 pm

Um....... HELL to the YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bring it, baby!!! big hug

by **Dana Doggett** on Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:21 pm

Where's Robert?! LOL I need him! devious

by **Tarathemis** on Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:24 pm

Dana Doggett wrote:Where's Robert?! LOL I need him!

YES! YES! YES! C'mon, we're dyin' here!!!!! tongue

by **Dana Doggett** on Tue Sep 13, 2011 9:49 am

Hey Luvy, I just noticed this in your signature:

"You would have pulled a Col. Ryan on his ass?"
"No, I woulda pulled a Robert Patrick on his ass."-Robert(Sept. 2011)

What is that from? Do you have a link to the full interview/article?

by **Dana Doggett** on Sat Sep 17, 2011 10:49 am

OMG! Luvy! I LOVE YOU! Wow! Wow! Wow!

(permission to archive these at RPA - full credit to you, of course)

by **Dana Doggett** on Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:28 am

You are awesome! I will get them up on RPA early next week cheer

I'm so excited that you're getting your goobers on some new RP set pics! SO EXCITED! glomp

by **Tarathemis** on Sat Sep 17, 2011 12:55 pm

Trench coat??? Fedora?????

*swoon*

I gotta go cool off now....... drool

by **Dana Doggett** on Sat Sep 17, 2011 2:26 pm

What's at this site? I quickly skimmed it and probably missed the point LOL can you post the relevant info in here? Thanks!

by **Dana Doggett** on Mon Sep 19, 2011 2:15 pm

Cool! Are you on location as this films?

by **Tarathemis** on Tue Sep 20, 2011 9:29 pm

I see a little flash of butt-cheek under that trench coat in that last pic, so I'm happy. biggrin

by **Dana Doggett** on Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:10 am

I need to mark my 2012 calendar for this! Exciting! Thanks for the info! cheer

by **Dana Doggett** on Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:41 am

OMGosh... great pictures, Luvy! I love how that holster strap sits above his backside. *le sigh*

by **Tarathemis** on Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:45 pm

He's two heads behind that Gosling boy. Would prefer Robert in the front of the shot, and everyone else blurry!! biggrin

by **Tarathemis** on Tue Oct 04, 2011 6:54 pm

This, after a shot of him in a tuxedo, eating something that --- in MY fantasy, at least, is ice cream ---- is just...... oh, god, I ...... just.... can't........AAUUUGGGHH!!!!!!

by **Dana Doggett** on Tue Oct 04, 2011 10:25 pm

There are kids in my classes who find the Gosling guy attractive. I'm not seeing it.

I love the photo above wub

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