A one-of-a-kind film set in Los Angeles, 1970’s. With a collapsing hollywood sign and long lines at the gas station, the work on finding a missing girl and its link to the porn industry is a normal day in the life of Holland March. Played by Ryan Gosling, March is a private eye whose misfortune takes a turn when enforcer Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) joins him to find Amelia Kuttner (Margaret Qualley), a young girl whose gone missing. It all links to the death of porn star Misty Mountain and the exposure of a ‘high-level corporate conspiracy.’

Written by Shane Black and Anthony Bagarozzi, The Nice Guys was originally set in modern day, but having it in the 1970’s allowed more freedom. Hence, more fun for both the writers and the actors. Bagarozzi explains, “When you write a mystery story in modern day it’s hard to create too much tension when people can be like, ‘Hey, I’ll just call and tell them they’re about to be killed and to get out of there.’ Everybody has got a cell phone and everything is quick access. So, on one hand, we were like, ‘Oh no, we can’t do any of that anymore.’ But on the other hand, it was freeing that you were left without all of these encumbrances of constant communication and the internet. It was more fun to see how it worked in the pre-internet days.”

While the film is an action comedy Russell Crowe admitted that when reading the script the noble intentions are what appealed to him. He said, “I just really liked the density of this script and what the narrative was trying to achieve. And I thought it had really noble intentions. I wouldn’t have described it necessarily as a comedy because it’s full of social commentary and other things that you don’t necessarily find in just a comedy.”

When Russell saw a list of potential co-stars, he began to question if the film was a good fit. But when Shane mentioned Ryan Gosling, there was nothing else to say; Russell was on board. On being complete opposites Russell stated, “In terms of great comedy duos, like Bing Crosby and Bob Hope or Abbott and Costello, there seems to be a physical difference a lot of the time. And in the script, there was a physical difference required, so I just decided to emphasize that a little bit more.”

On creating the strong dynamic between the two, Ryan Gosling told us he trusted Russell. “I’ve never doubted anything that he’s done. So, I knew he would be Jackson Healy. It’s a bonus that we had fun together, but part of what’s so great about Shane is that he knows what he’s doing. I think he cast us, not because he thought we were funny, but because he thought it would be funny to have two guys that are so serious be in something so silly. Even if Russell and I didn’t have the rapport that we have, I think it still would have worked on that level.”

Ryan Gosling being a dad confessed he is nothing like his character Holland. “He’s the worst father of all time.” He also talked about working with his on screen daughter Angourie Rice (Holly March). “Angourie is such a pro and she’s so talented. I guess they had seen a lot of kids, and I read with five or ten of them. Angourie was the last one and it was one of those great moments where you don’t know how you’re going to play certain aspects of your character, but just by the nature of who they are and how they’re playing their character, suddenly you know how to play yours.”

Gosling added, “There’s some touchy stuff in the movie. It certainly walks, if not crosses, the line in certain respects. We were just very careful with that. Those scenes are almost like a fight scene, where you make sure that the jokes land, but that nobody gets hurt.” 

On creating a back story for their character’s, Angourie revealed that Holland not having a sense of smell was not originally in the script. “That was really great because we worked as a team with Shane to sort of create this back story and the relationship between Holly and March [Holland], and why it is dysfunctional and why she has to be the adult in the relationship.” On working in a crime drama with cynicism and sexuality, Rice understands that it’s a job and she was up for the challenge. She said, “It’s all make believe anyways.”

Private eye movies are a favorite of Shane Black and while he can ‘continue making detective films for the rest of his life’, he did confess making a film noir these days is “tough.” He exhorted, come out and watch the film. “If you want to see more detective movies, here’s one in the middle of all the branded summer competition.” You will not be disappointed. 

The Nice Guys opens in theaters Friday, May 20th.