You gotta love Deadline and how they conveniently overlook their own reporting so they can go ahead put a big TOLDJA on their stories.
Mike Fleming is saying that Josh Brolin has joined Ryan Gosling and Sean Penn as the trio enter negotiations for Warner Bros. prized crime pic “The Gangster Squad.” Oh, but wait a minute — didn’t you guys just report about a week ago that Sean Penn turned down the movie? Yep, you did. Backtracking a bit, they now say Penn is “shaky” on the role so we’ll see how this turns out.
Set to be directed by “Zombieland” helmer Ruben Fleischer, fhe film is based on a series of articles in the L.A. Times by Paul Lieberman and was picked up soon after it’s publication in 2008 by Warner Bros. who, in turn, hired former L.A. cop turned novelist Will Beall to adapt. The major focus of Lieberman’s article was a specialized L.A.P.D. unit set up in the ‘40s to fight the growing influence of the East Coast Mafia, namely that from infamous gangster Mickey Cohen, a mogul who started as muscle for Al Capone in Chicago. Penn is being eyed for the role of Cohen with Gosling and Brolin as the two cops determined to bring him down. Sounds pretty fucking sweet, especially with this cast, but we’ll see how this all plays out.
No word on when this might roll and Warner Bros. also has Gosling pegged for “Logan’s Run” which is aiming to lens this fall so there will be some calendars that need to be adjusted to get everything in place.