It’s a treat to muck around in this world of haphazard, underdog detectives who solve mysteries with their own mishaps.
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Russell Crowe: “The thing is about Ryan’s pornstache is that he just had that”. He wins you over from Holland’s introduction – wearing a suit but soaking in a tub – and continues to be appealing even as Black and Bagarozzi mishandle a running plot element that perhaps Holland’s drinking is a problem.
Q: How do you describe your character?
And, if the locale and some other tricks remind you a little bit of both “Chinatown” and “L.A. Confidential” (which, by the way, also starred a young Crowe and Oscar-winning Kim Basinger, who also appears pivotally in this one), then you really know you’re in some rare company.
I think Christmas is an interesting time of year for isolation.
Ryan Gosling: “I love that stuff”. It’s mostly a literary legacy I’m prone to collect and amass at my house.
Q: Was doing all the action scenes tough?
Crowe and Gosling are both top-shelf actors, and the interplay between them is the film’s greatest strength.
And finally, Gosling sums up the whole point of the video by asking: “Isn’t it enough just to make a good film?”, to which Silver responds, “No, you’re a f***ing moron”.
Q: Any other exciting moments?
This is the kind of movie that we shouldn’t overthink. “I told him, ‘Well, that’s a problem, since that was a big part of my plan for today.’ But Shane made light of it, telling me, ‘Offer me a drink, and that likely will end up with me in handcuffs.’ ” said Crowe.
“My instinct – purely based on watching Ryan’s work – was that I’m going to get on with this guy”, says Crowe. Was that the draw? All of those versions just bolstered it, strengthened it, and only the strongest ideas survived. So it was nice to hear. Is there a reason? I grew up hearing about LA and Hollywood and dreaming about coming here and working here. For me, there are so many facets to Los Angeles, I’m always excited when I get an opportunity to explore something different. I love the city and I wish we could shoot here more. But you stick around for the shtick that plays against our expectations – March tossing Healy a gun during a firefight only to see it miss and crash through a window, a corpse that lands with a splat in the middle of a backyard party – and the slippery, snide dialogue. And, although he’s playing the relatively straight man, Crowe shows a hitherto untapped gift for comedy; or rather for bemusement at the expense of his consistently game co-star, whose tangle with a toilet cubicle is a highlight and whose stupidity saves their asses on more than one occasion. Ten heart attacks a day.
Q: How did having the film set in the ’70s affect the production? The gags were never the outfits. I thought he was very Shane Black (the writer/director).
“While I was on set it was all pretty PG-rated, so after I left, that’s when they filmed all the adult scenes”. And huge fan of Denis Villeneuwve (director) and Roger Deakins (cinematographer), and just the whole thing to me is really, I can’t believe that I get to be a part of it. It’s inside Shane Black’s head. He wanted to prove he had more range. Most people won’t even notice all the work, of course; they’ll be too busy enjoying the ride.
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Q: You are only 35.
