Finally returning to the crime comedy arena after over a decade, Shane Black‘s The Nice Guys is finally in theaters, and it’s one of the essential films of the summer. We said in our review, “Black’s signature mishmash of old-timey detective novel tradition, Gen-X glibness, affection for harried macho bonding, undercurrent of a social conscience, is joined here by something of a nod to the power of cinema. The Atlanta not-L.A. of The Nice Guys is a funhouse mirror reflecting the real world (past and present), Hollywood history (simultaneously its real history, its projection of its history, and the outside world’s perception of both), and cinema’s history as it relates to them.”
To celebrate the release we’ve gathered a number of extensive talks about the making of the film with Black, Ryan Gosling, and Russell Crowe. Along with that, there’s a video of Black analyzing a scene from the film, behind-the-scenes footage, an animated trailer, and more. “I love the ‘70s,” Black tells Uproxx. “The danger is you have people who have walked those streets before you. Like, Quentin Tarantino is a huge fan of grindhouse and ‘70s filmmaking. We didn’t want to seem like we were in your face with it. Boogie Nights is very in your face with the ‘70s. So, we had to concentrate on the cool aspects of it as a detective film first that plays like Klute or Bullitt or something like that, rather than making a big deal that we are ’70’s filmmakers’.”
Check out everything below and return for our podcast review early next week.
The Nice Guys is now in wide release.