Yesterday I sat in The Tale Bar of London’s Playboy Club – Well, there’s something I never thought I’d say – as I waited to see the filmmakers and cast of THE NICE GUYS. Writer/director Shane Black, producer Joel Silver, Russell Crowe and Matt Bomer were all present for the press conference, with Ryan Gosling sadly having to fly back to LA. There’s goes my chance of getting him to say hey girl to me…
As they all took to their seats, ready to take questions, Crowe acknowledged the many phones up in the air taking his picture. “Hold on,” he says. “Keep your phones up. Let me take a photo of you with your phones. If you need a copy of this, you can find it on Twitter later on today!” He’s certainly true to his word.
Black’s interest in “tough guy material” was born from his father’s book collection which he raided as a child. Together with his friend and writing partner, Anthony Bagarozzi, The Nice Guys was created. “The two of us just decided that there weren’t enough private eye movies,” began Black. But it wasn’t until Crowe was attached to the film that Gosling took interest. “Russell said ‘I like it’ and at the same time Ryan said ‘Well, I want to work with Russell so I like it’,” says Silver. “And then we had a movie.”
When it comes to onscreen chemistry, it’s not always a successful handover from page to film, but there’s no denying Crowe and Gosling’s relationship. “You can’t manufacture that,” Crowe admits. “You either have it or you don’t. But the key to it, it’s not really that complex, it’s just about listening. If you’re listening to each other, if you’re tuned into each other it doesn’t matter what left step he takes or what improv he decides to do. I can go with him because I’m actually listening to him and I don’t anticipate what he’s going to do or make any assumptions, and it goes both ways. So that’s really all you’re seeing, a couple of guys who are very aware the other guy can do anything at any given moment so you best tune in.”
Crowe spoke further about improvisation and how Black allowed free reign for both him and Gosling to explore their characters, which only amplified the comedy. “The cool thing about working with Shane at this period of his life where he’s had the ups and down and the slings and arrows, he’s at a point where he really does understand that you’ve got to trust who you hire. Now we’re both very respectful of the script and we’ll do it the way it reads, but then we also bring ideas every day. Shane just trusted that we would work within the spirit of what he intended, we wouldn’t suddenly be doing some other movie.”
Referring to his absent friend Gosling as “a funny b*stard” who has “this natural comedic gift”, Crowe had just as much fun on set as what you see on screen. “If you take the 26 years of making lead roles in feature films prior to The Nice Guys, the amount of times that I would’ve corpsed on camera on that whole time, 49 feature films or whatever, would be less than any given week of shooting Nice Guys. This little b*stard makes me laugh. Sometimes I would suspect he was up all night trying to think of a way to make me laugh.”
As for Bomer, he enjoyed playing the part of villainous John Boy. “It’s always fun to get to paint with different colours and get to play roles you’re not typically thin sliced as, and to get to do it with these people. I’m essentially a fan boy who was lucky enough to be along for the ride. Shane and Joel are a huge part of my cinematic upbringing for my childhood, and to watch two of my favourite actors create this incredible symbiotic comedic performance where one doesn’t work without the other and it’s just so present and every take was different was really just an incredible education for me.” Crowe adds, “Oh, I couldn’t make it work with that Ryan, mate.”
The cast and filmmakers were all unanimous when on the topic of Rice, who stars as Gosling’s onscreen daughter Holly. “We can’t say enough about this little girl,” Black says fondly. “I confess I’ve read a few reviews, and they mention her. I said, ‘Are you aware of the press you’re getting?’ And she goes ‘Really?’ She doesn’t even know that she’s good.” Gosling played an important role in securing Rice and making her feel comfortable on set. A child performer himself for the Micky Mouse Club, he took the time to get to know the young actors, explained Crowe. “In the audition process he researched each of the little girls who were coming in. So he had a question he could ask them relating to previous jobs they’d done or where they came from or whatever he could uncover, and that’s just, again, another indicator of what he did in order to make people feel comfortable in these situations.”
With the success of The Nice Guys yet to be known, Black already has a suggestion in mind for a sequel. “I love this idea of a time-locked franchise which means it will never catch up to us. So the sequel would be something in the 80s that was reflective of an issue or something in that era that we could throw these guys against. I just think that’s a fun idea to do a timeless private eye that proceeds through a series of historical incidents but no matter how many you make you’ll never quite get up to the present day.” But Crowe has an altogether different idea. “For some reason Ryan and I think the title The Nice Guys: Mexican Detectives is hilarious. I can’t even say it without laughing.”
THE NICE GUYS is in cinemas 3rd June. Read our review here.
