Based on the real-life battle for the streets of 1949 Los Angeles, Gangster Squad stars Josh Brolin as a Los Angeles cop who tries to take down a ruthless mobster. It is the latest film from director Ruben Fleischer. The film also stars Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone among others.

Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and—if he has his way—every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop…except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.

Entertainment Affair had the opportunity to attend the recent Los Angeles press day where Josh Brolin, along with Fleischer, talked about the film.

Fleischer considers himself lucky to have gotten to work with so many A-list stars, especially as a young director. He has only helmed two other feature films - 2008’s comedy Zomebieland and 2011’s 30 Minutes or Less. “I learned so much from all of them.  For each role, there couldn’t have been a better person to fill it.  Everyone was pitch perfect and really brought so much to it,” he said. Although, he does admit to have been really nervous to work with actor Sean Penn not only because he considers him “one of the greatest living actors,” but also because he sees him as a great director.

For Brolin, a highlight of working on Gangster Squad was reteaming with Penn, with whom he’d already co-starred in Milk. “Sean is great. We’ve known each other for a long time. He’s an amazing actor. The great thing about him is that you look at him and go, “That’s the guy who was Harvey Milk. This is the guy who has the ability to be as vulnerable as he is intense.” That’s what makes him so special, at least to me.” Penn and Brolin fought for real in a pivotal on-screen brawl refusing to let stuntmen take their hits. Brolin considers this his most challenging scene to shoot in the film. “I think the fight with Sean [Penn] was the most difficult.  Sean didn’t rehearse as much as I did, so his fists were flying wildly, during the fight, hoping they got something usable.  It was a tough fight that we rehearsed for many, many, many weeks and I love the way that it turned out.  But both of us, being the current and ex-smokers that we are, found it the most challenging, on an oxygen level.”

Originally scheduled to open last September, the film was recut to delete a movie theater massacre after the real-life multiplex murders in Aurora, Colorado. “The Aurora shooting was an unspeakable tragedy.  Out of respect for the families of the victims, we felt it necessary to reshoot that sequence,” Fleischer said.

"I'm proud of the fact that we did that. I think that we didn't compromise the film or our intent."

Gangster Squad is a fun movie to watch. With a high quality cast delivering above average performances, the movie seems set out to redefine how gangster movies are made.

Now playing in theaters nationwide!